How the ventilation in your floor can affect the timbers
If you take a look at the exposed elevations of a property you will often see airbricks at or around internal floor level, though these are mostly found in older properties, they are there to provide ventilation to a timber floor structure and commonly function by allowing air to pass under the floor between front and rear walls. We regularly see that extensions to the rear or side of a property can obscure the airbricks as can elevated ground levels or plants and shrubs. As there is often exposed soil below a timber floor, which can get damp, it is important that ventilation is provided to keep timbers dry and also to prevent condensation forming, failure can end in severe case of wet or dry rot and remedial works can be costly and disruptive.
After providing a FREE of charge survey to a client in Bristol it was clear that there where severe flooring issues to the dining room, laid to laminate there was excessive movement, a smell of ‘mushrooms’, red dust appearing at the edges of the room and even large fungal growths coming from behind the skirting boards. DRY ROT was diagnosed and a remedial specification was provided with a full cost. Works where extensive and involved removing all effected timbers, hacking off plaster to within a meter of the dry rot, sterilising areas and removing infected debris from site. A new timber floor structure was built and flooring sheets laid to this, ventilation was improved and a preventative treatment was applied to all timbers.
When we carried out further investigation it was found that there had in fact been a leak from the bathroom above which had persisted for sometime and resulted in water being deposited into the dining room floor void. Previous alterations to the building meant that the dining room floor stepped down to a solid concrete kitchen floor and externally ground levels had been elevated obscuring airbricks, Dry rot had thrived in these circumstances with no air movement to keep it at bay.
If you have excessive floor movement in a timber floor or damp ‘mushroom’ like smells then call us today to arrange a free of charge survey, better to be safe than sorry! 0800 161 3078 or complete the survey request form .
Wessex Damp and Timber are an industry leading company who provides services to help cure dampness and condensation in both the home and commerical environments.
Services We Offer
Some of the services we offer in property preservation
If you have issues in your home such as peeling paint or loose plaster, mould spotting or visible stains and ‘tide’ marks then you may have a damp problem and if so we have the solution. Whether it’s rising or penetrating damp we will provide you with a diagnosis and the solution.
Condensation in its simplest form is when moist air comes into contact with colder air or a colder surface and the water contained in the air is released to form condensation in the air or on the surface. It often results in black mould growth on walls and surfaces or you can see water droplets.
Aged and Period properties can often be cold and condensation will form on external walls, we can provide various types of solid insulation and often incorporate this with a level of damp proofing. Internal temperatures will improve and mould spotting reduces.