Underfloor damp problem help please!

[alesypalsy1]

Hi, I am worried and not sure where or how to go about fixing this , I have for the past week or 3 had electrics tripping so got a Electrian in after the rcd to our board would no longer stay on,,anyway we finally found the problem being in sitting room area , so the sockets were isolated and he coming back tomorrow to rewire the front room ,,, in the mean time I lifted the carpet and a floorboard and found the reason the electric is gone in here is cause the floor under the boards Is soaked and the main timber that holds the boards up is soaked in places ,,, I have pictures, I thought it was coming from leaking radiator it was that wet but there doesn’t seem to be any water coming out of the pipes for those , I think it maybe coming from the front of house main wall as there is brick weave drive quite high up the property line , years ago when I moved in I dug around the out side of the house and put shingle in at an attempt to make soak away , wonder if that could be a cause , I also have a drainpipe that comes down the front of house and don’t know where it leads to,, so I am pretty much clutching at straws as to how to go about fixing this ,, we really don’t have money at the moment so will have to attempt to do this work myself although I could labour for someone who knows what they are doing ,, please any advice and just to add the brick work that holds the floor up has given way where it was so damp and the wood has rotted so the floor was moving in the area I pulled the boards up ,
I’m baffled as to where the water is coming from and is it normal to see this much damp under the floor boards? I only seem to have one air brick to the front of the house ,,

The drive level is also not far from the damp course say around 2 inches but is shingle stones , Imcould this be getting in here and if it is any idea why I also have damp in middle of diving wall away from main front wall of house ,?thanks for any advice

 

[alesypalsy1]

 

[alesypalsy1]

 

[alesypalsy1]

I first thought it was radiator leak but seems not as radiator on now and no water coming out

 

[alesypalsy1]

sorry I seem to have posted this in the wrong section, could a moderator please move it t floors/stairs thanks

 

[Ian H]

I think your better off in this section.

If I were you I would put one colour of drain dye in the gutter and another on the gravel and simulate some rain, see if anything shows on the inside.

 

[alesypalsy1]

I cannot get to all areas underfloor as living room,, I can see there are no air bricks so am going to get around 6 to 8 put in around the house and also have new guttering with downpioes , also dig around the house and make a gulley so the bricks can breath , hopefully this should be enough

 

[^woody^]

Water is common in underfloor voids, but not persistant standing water. If it dries off in between rainy periods it's normal. If it's constant standing water then it may be a supply or drain pipe leak. Drain leaks will tend to smell of sewage.

Bad surface drainage running towards a house may contribute and again this will be more evident after rain.

What is not normal though is the damp to the timber joists. There should be a DPC (plastic/felt) between the timber and any wall it is resting on.

Damp voids are common, and it's important to have open airbricks ventilating the void. If there are some, one every 1.5m or so on opposite sides of the house, then this prevents any mould probelms caused by dampness.

 

[alesypalsy1]

Thanks for reply, I believe my problem
Is from rain water coming running towards the house with the guttering dripping down directly out the front and also no air down there so it cannot dry out ,,
I wouldn’t have been any the wiser had I not had electricity problem so I suppose it’s good I found now then later on
It must of been like it a long ,, I didn’t see any standing water , just was very damp and was that wet on one wall under dividing wall that is ,, that I thought a radiator had been leaking !

 

[Nige F]

Hi, I am worried and not sure where or how to go about fixing this , cause , I also have a drainpipe that comes down the front of house and don’t know where it leads to, ?thanks for any advice

That's the first thing to address - even if you just cut it and lay a length of gutter along the ground to get the water away from the house. Next change the existing air brick for plastic one - much more airflow through them - and fit more along the wall.

 

[bobasd]

if rains running towards the house are you on a slopeor hillside? do you have a retaining wall near the house?

as above,i definitly think your problems is mostly lack of through ventilation causing condensation and no dpc's allowing damp rising throgh the poor quality mortar of the beds.
as above cut in a few air bricks on all elevations but don disturb the dpc.

where you can you want to get under the floor an examine all the joisting especally the joist tails in the walls. the white fungus joist isnt good news. probe all the wood work with a nife or screwdriver.
why not put up photos of where the floor has collapsed,and where you have damp on an internal dividing wall?
go around the internal wall surfaces at skirting level and look for damp signs.

whats that thing that looks like an old elec junction box with an exposed stranded earth, a cable, and is it clamped toa lead pipe used as aearth rod? point it out to the sparkie.

 

[John D v2.0]

Our wall plates were very wet like 20% up to 50% and my solution was to add air bricks, clean the much under the floor and I used a bit of wood to lever up the joists slightly and insert some 110mm dpc. Then things can start to dry out.
A brick sleeper wall with no ventilation sitting in the damp, the whole thing will eventually be saturated along with anything absorbent sitting on top.
Old dpcs are more like damp reducing courses, they're not bad but water can still soak through.
Modern dpc should be perfect though.

 

[alesypalsy1]

Thanks for reply I appreciate it,

yes I have a slight slope from drive toward the house, it seems after I dug around the downpipe that it has leak as the down pipe is square and the clay soak away I guess is round ,, I put a hose down it and water was dripping quite fast out of the cemented joint, so this is a major factor I would say into where the main dam is coming from,,
I took pictures of the damaged part which was luckily where I had pulled the boards up! I put my phone with video down under boards to get the pictures, the skirtings are all dry and the damp is not rising up the walls, , it is however rising in the bricks holding sub floor up as no dpc on the frame as noticed,

hopefully the air bricks and new guttering , also will inspect the clay soak away pipe is not blocked, will fix the problem ! thanks again