I have a 1900s terraced house. The front room is of suspended timber floor and the back room has a concrete floor.
The floorboards in the front room constantly keep rotting as there is water under the subfloor void and the entire room smells of damp. If i dig a hole in the subfloor void (see pics with small hole about 2 feet deep i've dug from the subfloor - water start pooling up and you can see it settle on second pic) I notice water pools up after a while so I'm thinking the street has a high water table as other neighbours have a similar problem.
Across the road is a park and the ground level on that park is quite high (see pic)
There are no air vents under the suspended timber floor on this property but there are some properties in the same street which have air vents fitted on the sandstone including both my neighbours on adjacent sides.
What I have discovered is that under the subfloor void on each party wall there appears to be what I think is a vent - hardly any air flowing but what I think is that these houses were originally designed for the air to flow from the front of the property and through the air vents on each neighbours party wall and back out the front as the rear rooms are all concrete (correct me if i'm wrong). It's weird because a walk down the street reveals that some properties have air vents on the sandstone and some don't unfortunately mine doesn't have any vents at the front so I'm relying on my neighbours front vents.
I prodded a long stick through both party wall vents and the stick passed through into one neighbours subfloor void but not the other. Speaking to the neighbour who's party wall vent appears blocked advises he's had his front room recently concreted which would explain why.
The external ground to the front outside is flagged and is higher than the internal timber floor but does slope away from the house. There appears to be two dpcs, one above the black sandstone which you can see from outside and the original bitumen type which sits around 5-8cm beneath the sandstone and currently hidden by the flagstones. Some rainwater gathers near the garden gate (see screen shot). The guttering has also been extended up to the garden gate to take rain water away from the house.
The dining room kitchen and bath room to the rear are all concrete and speaking the neighbours they all have the same i.e. concrete dining and kitchen. I believe this is from the original construction.
The back street is a cobbled street with two gutters outside my house and pools quite a lot of surface water when it rains.
Could it be that because there is park on higher ground to the front all the water isn't draining properly and accumulates at the front of these properties because the rear is all concrete?
How can I resolve this issue of standing water in the front room?
Some neighbours have dug a pit in the middle of the room so that all the water gathers in one place away from the walls other have layed a membrane and concreting the front room. This would mean moving all the services above the subfloor which would increase costs. I'm also concerned that if its concreted wont the water simply start rising up the walls?
Any other advise out there of how to tackle this problem.
The floorboards in the front room constantly keep rotting as there is water under the subfloor void and the entire room smells of damp. If i dig a hole in the subfloor void (see pics with small hole about 2 feet deep i've dug from the subfloor - water start pooling up and you can see it settle on second pic) I notice water pools up after a while so I'm thinking the street has a high water table as other neighbours have a similar problem.
Across the road is a park and the ground level on that park is quite high (see pic)
There are no air vents under the suspended timber floor on this property but there are some properties in the same street which have air vents fitted on the sandstone including both my neighbours on adjacent sides.
What I have discovered is that under the subfloor void on each party wall there appears to be what I think is a vent - hardly any air flowing but what I think is that these houses were originally designed for the air to flow from the front of the property and through the air vents on each neighbours party wall and back out the front as the rear rooms are all concrete (correct me if i'm wrong). It's weird because a walk down the street reveals that some properties have air vents on the sandstone and some don't unfortunately mine doesn't have any vents at the front so I'm relying on my neighbours front vents.
I prodded a long stick through both party wall vents and the stick passed through into one neighbours subfloor void but not the other. Speaking to the neighbour who's party wall vent appears blocked advises he's had his front room recently concreted which would explain why.
The external ground to the front outside is flagged and is higher than the internal timber floor but does slope away from the house. There appears to be two dpcs, one above the black sandstone which you can see from outside and the original bitumen type which sits around 5-8cm beneath the sandstone and currently hidden by the flagstones. Some rainwater gathers near the garden gate (see screen shot). The guttering has also been extended up to the garden gate to take rain water away from the house.
The dining room kitchen and bath room to the rear are all concrete and speaking the neighbours they all have the same i.e. concrete dining and kitchen. I believe this is from the original construction.
The back street is a cobbled street with two gutters outside my house and pools quite a lot of surface water when it rains.
Could it be that because there is park on higher ground to the front all the water isn't draining properly and accumulates at the front of these properties because the rear is all concrete?
How can I resolve this issue of standing water in the front room?
Some neighbours have dug a pit in the middle of the room so that all the water gathers in one place away from the walls other have layed a membrane and concreting the front room. This would mean moving all the services above the subfloor which would increase costs. I'm also concerned that if its concreted wont the water simply start rising up the walls?
Any other advise out there of how to tackle this problem.
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