Solum Treatment?

onedayiwill

We are currently looking for a new house. In many home reports on the style of house we like (old ones!) we see the phrase "The solum appears to be untreated"

I understand the solum is the ground below the house and that in many old houses there isn't a subfloor - a frame was built on the solum and the house built on that.

So my question is, if the report also said the solum was damp and you wanted to do something about it, how would you treat it? Is it possible? Or would you treat the wooden floor joists rather than the solum?

eco-friendly_2

In modern properties the solum is usually sealed with a DPM (damp proof membrane) and a layer of concrete, or alternatively overlaid with bitumen (tar) untreated solums are usually soil, or ash.


Sometimes untreated solums can lead to dampness and cold rising from the water vapour, in extreme cases fungus can thrive and lead to dry rot, this is exacerbated with the aid of central heating, and the lack of ventilation bricks with is the norm of victorian properties.


Solum treatments can be carried out on a property that your buying, but not while your living in it. Our company did a solum treatment in Bridge Of Weir (2000 sq ft)- my old house about 7 years ago, it would have cost around £5000. HTH

onedayiwill

Thanks eco-friendly, that's really helpful. Out of interest, how long did the solum treatment take?

ormus

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]my mate had a similar problem with damp/water under the subfloor/solum in his bungalow.
he had about an inch of standing water when there was heavy rain, due to a high water table. he capped the whole subfloor base with 6 inches of shingle, then 1200 gauge membrane and a further inch of shingle.
this entailed taking up floorboards in every room, and wheel barrowing nearly 20 tons of shingle.
he also added some air bricks.
worth the hard work because a damp company quoted him 5000 quid just to do the lounge and dining room, so made a huge saving doing the work DIY.
and he has not had any more problems with damp wet floors.
they are now bone dry.

sealing off the solum with a barrier and getting ventilation in is the answer.


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