jamesfromlevenshulme
Member
- Messages
- 1
- Location
- Manchester
First time buyer trying to work this out.
When I moved into this 1901 house there was excessive rotting of joists under the bay window/in the cellar. I've had them cut out and sistered with new joists.
The rot was caused by excessive and ignored damp by the previous owners. They had four air bricks at the back of the house (suspended floor) but had concreted over the ventilation at the front (cellar). I have since chiseled about a football-sized hole in that concrete and keep it mostly covered with a concrete slab. Air visibly moves through this hole and into the cellar. I'd assume it moves out of the air bricks at the back.
During the summer this worked great. It felt far dryer down there and the joists were bone dry.
Now we've come to autumn, it is pretty wet down there again and the joists are damp to touch. I'd like to sort this asap.
My seeming options are:
When I moved into this 1901 house there was excessive rotting of joists under the bay window/in the cellar. I've had them cut out and sistered with new joists.
The rot was caused by excessive and ignored damp by the previous owners. They had four air bricks at the back of the house (suspended floor) but had concreted over the ventilation at the front (cellar). I have since chiseled about a football-sized hole in that concrete and keep it mostly covered with a concrete slab. Air visibly moves through this hole and into the cellar. I'd assume it moves out of the air bricks at the back.
During the summer this worked great. It felt far dryer down there and the joists were bone dry.
Now we've come to autumn, it is pretty wet down there again and the joists are damp to touch. I'd like to sort this asap.
My seeming options are:
- Open up more passive ventilation holes
- Put in active ventilation fans
- Put a dehumidifier down there and run the lead up to the kitchen every couple of days.
- Put a fan down there and run the lead up to the kitchen every couple of days.
- Sump pump?