Soil under stairs in old house?!?

[struthmeister]

Hi everyone, this is my first post so I'm thankful for any help I can get!!

I live in an old house (circa 1700s) and there is already a void under the stairs, but I have removed some more plasterboard to expose the area under the bottom few steps. Weirdly, in this area is a single course of bricks (3 deep) which is covered in soil/earth with bits of small stone etc. The soil doesn't feel damp at all, but there is a musty smell.

Given it's an old house without modern foundations, i'm wondering if the soil is a traditional technique for absorbing and damp / moisture or preventing insects from making their way into the void...does anyone have any ideas?

I've attached a photo...at the top left you can see the stringer and across the top is the riser of the first step.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[blup]

They built up the ground with soil and brick as a base for the stairs.

Blup

 

[struthmeister]

They built up the ground with soil and brick as a base for the stairs.

Blup

Hi Blup, thanks for the reply. I've removed the soil now in the hope that it will increase air circulation and get ride of the musty smell. Cheers

 

[JohnD]

The soil doesn't feel damp at all, but there is a musty smell.

Airbricks to ventilate the underfloor void are supposed to keep it fairly dry. I don't know how your house was built, but old houses often have insufficient ventilation now (originally, they were very draughty) and old airbricks get clogged up with cobwebs and dirt.

 

[struthmeister]

Thanks @JohnD. Due to the age of the house, it doesn't have any foundations as such, so nowhere really for an airbrick to go, especially as the base of the staircase is in the centre of the house.

Would it be advisable to put some sort of air vent in the plasterboard to keep an air supply to it?

Thanks again.

 

[JohnD]

Do you mean there are no external walls beside the void?

 

[struthmeister]

Correct.

To be clear, the void is only small because most of the area under the stairs has previously been exposed as an alcove. So i'm just wondering if I should try and get more airflow to it now i've removed the soil.

Thanks for the help.

 

[JohnD]

Won't hurt

In most cases, there is a void under all wooden floors, and the walls between rooms have holes below the floors to allow air to blow through.