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My flat is directly above the basement car park of the block where I live and the floor is concrete with plastic tiles laid over it. As you'd imagine, carpet does nothing at all to keep out the ferocious cold between November and May inclusive, so rather than lose my toes, I kitted out with 11mm thermal underlay seven years ago on the advice of a heating and insulation advisor. It definitely made a small difference to my toes, but overall the flat is still an ice bucket.
Yesterday I took up the carpets I'd laid seven years ago in my living room and found that the 11mm underlay was damp to the touch here and there - so I peeled it back and found that not only were there various patches on the plastic tiled floor which were slick with moisture, but next to the two exterior walls of the room there were continuous wet patches on the floor which extended anything between 20cm and 50cm into the room. Worse still, the wooden grippers round the walls were very damp and the projecting tacks were rusted black. Worst of all, there was a terrible musty smell which shows no sign of departing. There was even a centipede.
Am I right in guessing this phenomenon has something to do with some sort of dew point effect? If so, it's hard to figure out, because there's precious little warmth or indeed humidity in my living room - and the internal walls are just as cold as the external walls. My floor is right up in the air above the basement car park, with no moisture beneath it except moist air, so water penetration from below can fairly safely be ruled out (unless you know better). There are no gutters or downpipes in telltale locations - and perhaps strangest of all, my bedroom floor is bone dry under the underlay, even though the the room also has two exterior walls, is an even colder room than the living room and probably plays host to more hours of exhalation per day than the living room does.
As you'd imagine, I've taken up the underlay and it's had to go to my workplace and be hung up in a warehouse to dry out. But when it's dry, do I really lay it back down in my living room and then pay out for brand new carpet to go over the top when I know it's going to go all wet again underneath? And how in tarnation do I get rid of the current musty smell, which I suspect is coming from the damp wooden grippers which show no sign of wanting to dry out - and why would they when they're at floor level and hot air (from the radiators) rises and anyway the room is so cold that it never gets hot in the first place?
I'd be very grateful to hear any thoughts you might have on this topic, though I'm hoping that no-one advises me to despair and jump under a bus.
Yesterday I took up the carpets I'd laid seven years ago in my living room and found that the 11mm underlay was damp to the touch here and there - so I peeled it back and found that not only were there various patches on the plastic tiled floor which were slick with moisture, but next to the two exterior walls of the room there were continuous wet patches on the floor which extended anything between 20cm and 50cm into the room. Worse still, the wooden grippers round the walls were very damp and the projecting tacks were rusted black. Worst of all, there was a terrible musty smell which shows no sign of departing. There was even a centipede.
Am I right in guessing this phenomenon has something to do with some sort of dew point effect? If so, it's hard to figure out, because there's precious little warmth or indeed humidity in my living room - and the internal walls are just as cold as the external walls. My floor is right up in the air above the basement car park, with no moisture beneath it except moist air, so water penetration from below can fairly safely be ruled out (unless you know better). There are no gutters or downpipes in telltale locations - and perhaps strangest of all, my bedroom floor is bone dry under the underlay, even though the the room also has two exterior walls, is an even colder room than the living room and probably plays host to more hours of exhalation per day than the living room does.
As you'd imagine, I've taken up the underlay and it's had to go to my workplace and be hung up in a warehouse to dry out. But when it's dry, do I really lay it back down in my living room and then pay out for brand new carpet to go over the top when I know it's going to go all wet again underneath? And how in tarnation do I get rid of the current musty smell, which I suspect is coming from the damp wooden grippers which show no sign of wanting to dry out - and why would they when they're at floor level and hot air (from the radiators) rises and anyway the room is so cold that it never gets hot in the first place?
I'd be very grateful to hear any thoughts you might have on this topic, though I'm hoping that no-one advises me to despair and jump under a bus.
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