lawmystress
Member
- Messages
- 1
Good evening ladies and gentlemen,
I am new to this forum and I have read the damp FAQ and tried to search the forum to find a similar scenario, but I couldn't. I apologise if it's a duplicate and will appreciate if someone can refer me to a post answering my questions.
To cut a long story short, I bought a Victorian house built in 1872 in Thanet, UK, this summer. It is built on the slope, it's the end of terrace (technically beginning of the terrace as I have 7 houses from me) and the basement floor is entirely underground. The front and back of the house have got windows, so entire wall is not actually underground (front of the house has a staircase leading to it directly from the ground floor, but you only see feet from the window). At the back there is one big window and door to the garden.
When I bought it, the smell of damp was just overpowering. It was just unbearable: turns out the previous owner had sort of suspended timber floor in the basement and lots of rubbish hidden underneath it - so lots of building rubbish was on the actual earth floor rotting away. I raised all the floors up and cleared up the rubbish, took off the rotted timber (it was not suspended as such and some were touching the earth, hence rotted away) and now I just have bare ground. Please see photos attached.
The problem is that I am not sure if the smell is completely gone, there is some damp on the walls, please see photos. I had 6 different completely contradicting opinions from so called damp specialist and I am getting pretty desperate as nobody can give me any decent advice.
I had options of:
1) Clear rubbish out and put new suspended floor - no advice as to what to do with existing damp on the walls.
2) Put membrane on the floor and walls and put timber on the floor on top of DPC - but this option doesn't technically save the problem at all, only covers it up? Plus, I am not convinced the smell will be gone?
3) Put membrane down, then concrete on top, then some plastic on it, and then any other floor. But after reading all the horror stories about concrete in old houses, I don't know what to think or do.
4) Put concrete first, then membrane on top! Then either wooden board and lino, or just lino. Insert DPC into walls as well.
5) Do DPC walls and do nothing with the floor and hope for the best - that was even before I had cleared the rubbish out underneath and he said it was fine.
The problem with the DPC in the walls is that one of the walls, the end of terrace wall, is about 1.4 meters literally underground: ie it's leaned against the earth, as outside the neighbour's path is about 1.4-1.5 meters high from my kitchen floor! (Please excuse my rubbish explanation here, if it's not clear, please let me know). Which means that there is water from the earth seeping through my bricks - is that correct? Will DPC even work if I inject it from the inside? I am not 100% this is the case of the problem, as damp is only in the corner below boiler. The outside drain WAS blocked when I bought the house and I am not sure how long it was blocked for, so it didn't help. I had dehumidifier there for a week and it took a lot of water and then stopped.
So I am stuck now in a house with entire basement floor uninhabitable and no kitchen. I have no idea what to do next as nobody is giving me any options that can fix the problem of the smell and stop my house falling apart.
So, dear people of PPUK, can you please share your opinions?
I need to find out what is the best thing to do in particular:
1) Which floor should I go for? The actual earth is dry, there is not a single wet patch anywhere. Please see photos. Should I concrete it all? Should I put membrane at all? Membrane and concrete? Membrane and concrete on top or vice versa?
2) What do I do with my walls - currently, the one with pine boar and white paint has some DPC behind it, it's about 10 years old - no damp seeping through. Should I leave it? Should I take it back to the break and DPC it all? Should I just make a new wall?
3) What do I do with my kitchen wall (where the boiler is) - do I DPC it? Any other options?
All input will be greatly appreciated, thanks guys.
One distressed lady in Kent.
I am new to this forum and I have read the damp FAQ and tried to search the forum to find a similar scenario, but I couldn't. I apologise if it's a duplicate and will appreciate if someone can refer me to a post answering my questions.
To cut a long story short, I bought a Victorian house built in 1872 in Thanet, UK, this summer. It is built on the slope, it's the end of terrace (technically beginning of the terrace as I have 7 houses from me) and the basement floor is entirely underground. The front and back of the house have got windows, so entire wall is not actually underground (front of the house has a staircase leading to it directly from the ground floor, but you only see feet from the window). At the back there is one big window and door to the garden.
When I bought it, the smell of damp was just overpowering. It was just unbearable: turns out the previous owner had sort of suspended timber floor in the basement and lots of rubbish hidden underneath it - so lots of building rubbish was on the actual earth floor rotting away. I raised all the floors up and cleared up the rubbish, took off the rotted timber (it was not suspended as such and some were touching the earth, hence rotted away) and now I just have bare ground. Please see photos attached.
The problem is that I am not sure if the smell is completely gone, there is some damp on the walls, please see photos. I had 6 different completely contradicting opinions from so called damp specialist and I am getting pretty desperate as nobody can give me any decent advice.
I had options of:
1) Clear rubbish out and put new suspended floor - no advice as to what to do with existing damp on the walls.
2) Put membrane on the floor and walls and put timber on the floor on top of DPC - but this option doesn't technically save the problem at all, only covers it up? Plus, I am not convinced the smell will be gone?
3) Put membrane down, then concrete on top, then some plastic on it, and then any other floor. But after reading all the horror stories about concrete in old houses, I don't know what to think or do.
4) Put concrete first, then membrane on top! Then either wooden board and lino, or just lino. Insert DPC into walls as well.
5) Do DPC walls and do nothing with the floor and hope for the best - that was even before I had cleared the rubbish out underneath and he said it was fine.
The problem with the DPC in the walls is that one of the walls, the end of terrace wall, is about 1.4 meters literally underground: ie it's leaned against the earth, as outside the neighbour's path is about 1.4-1.5 meters high from my kitchen floor! (Please excuse my rubbish explanation here, if it's not clear, please let me know). Which means that there is water from the earth seeping through my bricks - is that correct? Will DPC even work if I inject it from the inside? I am not 100% this is the case of the problem, as damp is only in the corner below boiler. The outside drain WAS blocked when I bought the house and I am not sure how long it was blocked for, so it didn't help. I had dehumidifier there for a week and it took a lot of water and then stopped.
So I am stuck now in a house with entire basement floor uninhabitable and no kitchen. I have no idea what to do next as nobody is giving me any options that can fix the problem of the smell and stop my house falling apart.
So, dear people of PPUK, can you please share your opinions?
I need to find out what is the best thing to do in particular:
1) Which floor should I go for? The actual earth is dry, there is not a single wet patch anywhere. Please see photos. Should I concrete it all? Should I put membrane at all? Membrane and concrete? Membrane and concrete on top or vice versa?
2) What do I do with my walls - currently, the one with pine boar and white paint has some DPC behind it, it's about 10 years old - no damp seeping through. Should I leave it? Should I take it back to the break and DPC it all? Should I just make a new wall?
3) What do I do with my kitchen wall (where the boiler is) - do I DPC it? Any other options?
All input will be greatly appreciated, thanks guys.
One distressed lady in Kent.
), The building does not mind and will be there, patiently waiting, for whenever you are ready and in the frame of mind to carry on. Once finished you will experience a brilliant sense of achievement, and best of all, you will be wondering what the hell you was being stressed for. Just concentrate on the end product by progressing as fast and as diligently as circumstances allow."