Damp earth under floorboards

[Wilmslow]

Just in case anyone else has had this issue and overcome it.

My bungalow is 1960’s, and is direct to the earth below the floorboards.

Subsequently, I sometimes get some damp below the floorboards.

Not really an issue in winter when the central heating kicks in nicely, but, in the summer more of an issue as the kitchen especially smells of damp.

Expensive solution is to get floorboards ripped out, get a firm to concrete etc, but, is there any type of underfloor heating, or underfloor dehumidification, permanently installed quiet dehumidifier etc that I could investigate? Currently using B&Q’s finest dehumidifier but noisy and a PITA to empty every day!

Cheers.

[Ken Dodd]

damp

Houses aren't built like this any more, for this reason. Normally, the under-floor space is ventilated and kept damp-free through air bricks in the exterior walls on all sides thereby allowing a flow of air to evaporate all mosisture - a la eave and ridge vents in lofts.

A friend of mine used to suffer steamed-up windows all the time, and the air in his house was very moist, although there was no smell of damp. He became fed up with it one day and took up the floorboards in his living room to find that the whole under-floor space was filled with water up to a depth of 2 feet. He had to knock a hole in his brickwork at the lowest point of his house and let all the water run out. He then installed the air bricks. And moved.

[Support Monkey]

I wonder if you can use a process called tanking, this is what they do for cellars were they line the walls and floors with a plastic membrane to stop the damp penetrating from the earth below or to the sides.

Mind you either way its gonna be reasonably expensive if you need to rip all your floors up

[Halo Jones]

As has been said this is an old style construction & you need to check that you have air bricks & they are not blocked up on either side, remember that any central load bearing walls will go down to independent foundations & should also have air bricks so that the air can flow from one side, to the other of the house.

An alternative to concrete is to drill a small hole in the floor board & pump in the foam in to the void, it’s the same stuff they use in cavity wall insulation: this may need to be done in a few rooms due to load bearing / chain walls.

If there are no air bricks & the floor boards are literally on top of the earth (no room for insulation) then you will have to lift the boards & install a DPM (damp proof membrane) which is effectively a big plastic sheet this will stop the damp coming up from the earth.

Note: if the foundation walls do not have a DPC (damp proof course) then the damp will travel up the walls to avoid this paint the walls with a tanking solution.


Hope this helps but the best solution will be get in the experts!

[xoggoth]

Houses used to be much more interesting then. As kid I spent many hours crawling through the foundation space looking for my hamsters whenever they escaped. I was terrified that zombies would get me.

PS Perhaps you could grow psychogenic mushrooms down there.

[AtW]

Floor wetter.

[Halo Jones]

Houses used to be much more interesting then. As kid I spent many hours crawling through the foundation space looking for my hamsters whenever they escaped. I was terrified that zombies would get me.

Very true, currently they are trying to make houses air tight: let’s hope they fail

[doodab]

Get a boat.

[Churchill]

Hang yourself.

ftfy.

[OwlHoot]

Just in case anyone else has had this issue and overcome it.

My bungalow is 1960’s, and is direct to the earth below the floorboards.

Subsequently, I sometimes get some damp below the floorboards.

Cheers.

The problem is you're running out of space for all those neighbours' bodies.

Try burning them in the back garden, in a big pile of leaves and fallen branches (works best in the autumn)

HTH