We purchased a fairly old home (1958) just over a year ago (first time buyers), which is built mainly on clay. Over the Autumn and winter we've noticed some changes to the floor in the kitchen and living area. The living room has wooden flooring and there's been some spongy areas appearing. The kitchen has lino flooring and we've noticed some changes to the level, with areas towards the kitchen door starting to bulge slightly - around 5-10mm higher than other areas. There's been some cracking in the corners of rooms but nothing subsidence worthy, mostly hairline.
It seemed likely the drastic change in the weather last year has caused some expanding and shrinking in the foundations. But I decided to pull up the Kitchen Lino and found a very damp patch (the width of the door) in the flooring around the rear door. This door was moved by the previous owners, and other areas at the rear of the property are all dry. So I'm concerned that the previous owners either didn't seal the area properly, or didn't do the correct damp proofing.
At the moment we're stuck between calling our insurer or getting someone in to investigate and sort the area, but I'm worried how much that job might end up costing if the issue has caused damp to spread under the floor. We had a CCTV drainage inspection last year for the drains at the back of the house and there weren't any serious issues, so I'm hoping it's just been rainwater or melted snow getting in.
I'm hoping someone would be able to give me some advice around how much this could roughly cost us to repair, and whether it's likely this has led to the other issues we've had with the flooring. Any guidance or advice is appreciated. Happy to provide further info :) Thanks in advance!
Are you a tradesperson and able to answer this question?
Hi there there's a good chance the damproofing hasn't been done by the sound of what your saying the back of the house is OK, but as always maybe best to to lift the flooring again and try to dry out the area as best you can to see the extent of water damage to floor joists in some cases the joists could still be ok which would save you replacing them but if they were to be replaced they can be cut back past the rotten or soaked joists and replaced .Also if there is no damproof or dpc at the door area you could inject dampcourse at floor level passing in some cases a metre past either side of the door area which would insert a cream which spreads and acts as a barrier from rising damp in terms of cost it can be a little pricey depending on what company or firm you get ,but me personally I would get a few quotes and a breakdown on what would be involved ,would be good to get it done sooner than later as the problem will only get worse over time and could end up costing more ,I suppose it could be worth checking your home insurance to ask if they could cover costs
Answered24 March 2023
8
Anonymous user
I would like to add to the comment above, that something worth checking is if the air bricks just about ground level on the exterior have been blocked. If you can find any (they look like bricks but with holes or vents in them?) the have either been buried when someone has raised the level of the garden.
If you can't find any I would start by putting new ones in. They let in air under the floorboards, which in turn keeps it dry and stops the joists and floorboards rotting They can also swell if they are getting wet which might explain the bulging of the kitchen.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you've got any other queries :)
Can you show me some pictures maybe the path outside is to high and water could be coming through the air bricks sometimes paths are running towards the house in stead of away I have done many of these the path may need lowering and a drain putting in to stop water against the house and a new dpc putting on wall or wall plates under joists
houses built around that time period generally had wooded floors to living areas and solid tiled floors to kitchen areas unfortunately at that period they did not install a damp proof membrane. So you will have damp rising within your floor which is causing the subfloor to expand and contract. the remedy is to breakout the floor, install a membrane and reconcrete.
