First Floor Lime Ash flooring

[bu88les2010]

Hi guys, new to this forum so be gentle with me please
We are in the process of purchasing an 1830's limestone built cottage and it would appear that we have "lime ash flooring" upstairs .... when I say upstairs I mean the whole of the upstairs! It would appear to be indicative of the area (Lincolnshire) Are we okay to put underlay and carpet down? (as the previous owners have done) Are we to be worried about it and would anyone suggest we have it removed ..... ?
Furthermore, it is being suggested that we may need to have a DPC injected in the back wall! We believe that the "issues" are as a result of the outside having been banked with soil, so we will remove this BUT the whole of the cottage has been cosseted in wood chip!!! (sorry if this offends anyone ) We are presently of the mind set to remove all paper AND all plaster in order for the house to breathe We have been very lucky as the Vendor has allowed us in to remove the paper on the back wall and it would appear that they have already had "tanking" carried out which obviously hasn't worked! As is what many of you have suggested on previous threads. Can any of you advise what would be the best course of action initially please? and Thank You

 

[Gareth Hughes]

posts from new users can take a while to appear and then drift down the page without being spotted, so I'll bump this up. And suggest that an upstairs lime ash floor will usually live with being carpeted, but why would you be worried about it and possibly want it removed?
and that an injected dpc should not be the first course of action. Others will be along shortly, no doubt.

 

[Keithj]

I suppose one day there will be an injected damp proof course that works, but I've not come across one. I've seen a few that definitely didn't work (two of them extremely close to home).

Your comment about the earth banked against the wall sounds like a prime diagnosis of the cause of trouble.

Tanking and injected DPCs just move the water somewhere else. The water doesn't say "oh bother!" and turn round and go away. The solution can be simple, or complex, but basically consists of finding where the water is coming from: can that source be stopped? If not, can it be redirected? How can the damp area be allowed to breathe so that the damp can get out again?

Things to look for include leaking gutters, earth banked up against a wall, floors lower than the outside ground level, streams running under the house (seen that!), concrete where there shouldn't be (seen lots of that), damp proof membrane under a floor driving the damp into the wall...

"Rising damp" is a popular phrase with folks looking for work. I'm a great fan of French drains - they are not the solution to every problem (by a long way), but they do get the water away from the walls.

 

[bu88les2010]

posts from new users can take a while to appear and then drift down the page without being spotted, so I'll bump this up. And suggest that an upstairs lime ash floor will usually live with being carpeted, but why would you be worried about it and possibly want it removed?
and that an injected dpc should not be the first course of action. Others will be along shortly, no doubt.

Thank you Gareth for bumping my post Reason "worried" about it is because the surveyor has raised it in his report and is suggesting a more indepth survey is carried out with the thought of having it removed .....but we are of the thought if its been there for years and years (certainly since 1975 which is when the Vendor purchased the cottage) then we don't think there is anything to worry about. The reason I asked if okay to carpet was because I didn't know if it would need to "breathe" or not ....
Re the DPC - we are going to fight tooth and nail not to have to have one ; we truly believe that present owners have "masked" some issues instead of addressing them like Keithj suggests and thanks to this forum we are going to take all the advice given to others and work out way through it slowly.
Our intention is to remove ALL plaster upstairs and down and allow the beautiful cottage to breathe before we decide what walls we want replastering and can categorically say we will not be using gypsum to do so
Keithj - a French drain is something we plan to do .... any tips please?

 

[Zebra]

This is one of those tricky ones which requires patience. Hopefully when you move in you won't be desperate to have it all sorted straight away, because it may be necessary to try one thing, wait and see if that's worked, and then try something else, in order to sort the problem in a way which you won't later regret. Will you be doing the work yourselves, or having builders in to do it? Builders are often not very in tune with the kinds of methods and approaches which work best for old houses.
Remove the paper, yes. Remove the plaster, perhaps - is it lime, gypsum, cement? Is it preventing the house from breathing? Is it damp? What is this "tanking" layer made of?
Remove the soil on the outside of the wall, yes. Then wait and see.

I had a very similar issue with my house, which took a lot of time and patience to get right, so I sympathise.

 

[Flyfisher]

I agree - time is important and 'quick fixes' are usually oxymorons.

It has probably taken some time for the house to get into its current state and, following any changes to rectify things, will likely take some time to adjust back to a more comfortable state. This is especially true where damp is concerned. Being prepared for this sort of thing will ease a lot of the undoubted stress and worry associated with such a project.

I've no experience of lime ash floors, but if they are upstairs then I can't immediately see how there could be a damp problem with them. Has there been a specific problem with the previous owners laying underlay and carpets that has caused you to question it?

Exterior ground levels should certainly be lowered if possible, though it sounds as if you are already on to that.

 

[philpjuk100]

We have lime ash floors on our first and second floors,we live in Nottinghamshire and there used to be a lime kiln on the other side of the road and the "gas house" which used to supply gas to the local "big house" is three houses away so lime and ash would be easily available.Our first floor rooms have been carpeted since we lived here and we have not had any problems.As to injected dpc`s just search the forum.phil.

 

[Keithj]

French drains - we had one dug round this house: it cured a number of damp areas inside.

We then dug one at the church. The officials didn't like it (till afterwards - another story) but the chancellor did. I had to point out that nobody's permission was needed to dig graves, so we'd just dig some shallow ones, and then fill them with shingle until required for use. We then applied properly for a faculty, and had no problems.
Digging that one revealed a spring running under the south wall, which had "excavated" quite a channel for itself. That's now piped and flows into the stream further down the hill. Our builder was surprised the wall above hadn't cracked (but it was about two feet thick and made of large flints).

I would recommend employing someone who knows what he's doing, unless you do it yourself (carefully). It needs to be close up to the wall, but not to cause damage to the wall or to weaken the ground support. Ours were both dug close to the wall, about 12 inches deep, and with a soakaway to carry the water away. They were lined with mesh to keep the earth in place and let the water through, then filled with shingle.