Skirting wood damp in extension, from where!?

[Tyndall]

Hi
So this is the floor of an old extension. The location in the pics is in the shower room, the wall is the old exterior wall at the back of the house.
when I bought the house, 18mths ago, the shower room floor was pretty damp, due to the pipes under the raised shower not being tight, and leaking. This had been going on for some time, a few years. So the skirting boards were wet for a long time, you can see the nails are rusty. After I tightened the plastic pipes, the leak stopped and the floor has seemed to dry out well.

Removing the old skirting board today, the wood smelt/felt damp. Definitely pretty soft and a bit rotten from the years of being wet. I put a sample in a sealed bag and put it in the sun, you can see the moisture inside the bag.
You can see high moisture readings of the wood in the pics below. 25% in the front, and 32% in the bottom However the floor and wall feels dry and in concrete/plaster mode, give a moisture reading of about 1.2%. and feel dry, so I'm a bit confused why the wood is still damp?

Would appreciate views/opinions please, thanks in advance.

 

[johnny2007]

How are we doing with dpc outside?
Is it at least 150mm from finished floor?

 

[Tyndall]

thanks Johnny, very good question.
See pic below. 'old' is how the walls. plaster, and floor all interface. Not very sensible.

'new' is after removal of old lime plaster, some liquid DPM and fresh concrete and plaster. I can see holes along the walls where damp proofing has been injected before now.

So in answer to your question, I think then the old DPC will be below the new floor surface.

 

[dazlight]

That moisture meter isn’t for concrete.
Get rid of all the old skirting and let the walls breathe. Moisture off the wood has gone into the skirts and as they are painted it’s got trapped.

 

[Tyndall]

That makes sense dazlight, thanks. I'll not fit any skirting boards in that room, though the wall/plaster will continue to bridge with the floor.

Any suggestions to resolve?

 

[dazlight]

Can you put pics up of the whole floor.
Most times a old damp floor we do
Ardex NA As base coat to make smooth
Ardex DPM1c floor & up walls A few inches of possible.
ardex NA again

 

[Tyndall]

I'll have to check out where the DPC is on the extension tomorrow. I think it was built in the 70's.

I don't think the pics will much help at the mo dazlight, of the room. Still being used as a bathroom as we renovate.

The floor is pretty smooth in this room and the rest of the extension so might get away DPM1c and NA over the top.

I have a question - The damp is going to work its way up and over the few inches of DPM1c up the wall, where does it go from there if the wall is interior on both sides?!

 

[dazlight]

It won’t block the moisture but control it. It will disburse out of the walls but if walls have a Dpc you will be ok.

 

[Tyndall]

It won’t block the moisture but control it. It will disburse out of the walls but if walls have a Dpc you will be ok.

Nice one mate

 

[foxhole]

Wet walls can take up to 8-9 months to dry after being soaked , floors even longer And that assumes perfect drying conditions.

 

[Tyndall]

Thanks Foxhole. I'm hoping some of the damp is residual!