Groundwork & Foundations

water under floor and bad smell in front door area

Anonymous user 23/02/2024 - 2.52 PM

can anyone advise me please. I bought a house two years ago and there has always been a bit of a bad smell in the front door area which wafts into the sitting room when the door is open. I didn't really notice it much at first as when we went to look around the house before buying, we noticed air fresheners working everywhere on the electrics. the house was vacant at the time of viewing. we got an extension built on 18 months ago and when the electricians came to put the wires under the house, they lifted the passage floorboards up and showed me a pool of water under the house. they said they had never seen this before which concerned me. I phoned Rentokil and explained the situation. the lady replied by phone next day and reassured me that because the land was good land under the house, the water was there because it took a long time to get through the land the house was built on and was not a problem for us. I took that as a positive response because she could have said there was work and charged me for it but she didn't. no one turns up their nose when it comes to finding work and money I have found out from bad experiences in the past. when northumbrian water came out twice in the past couple of months to unblock the drains in the back garden, we mentioned this to them and they said to get further advice and we may need to get someone out to inspect the job and maybe pump the water out. neither of us have a clue about this sort of thing and therefore I am turning to you for advice. its the smell I am concerned about and it smells like stagnant water. it is worse in the summer. i am also worried because people i know are giving me conflicting advice and worrying me sick. i don't want rotten floorboards or rising damp. i don't want to make a problem if there is one to be left and then have a great big bill at the end of it because i have left it too late. but i would love to get rid of the smell as when you open the front door you can get a smell of it and it smells like old house or stagnant water and to me a dirty house which it is not.