Smelly water in crawl space

pozalina

We noticed a nasty smell about a week ago in our dining room. Last night oh lifted a floorboard to discover a large pool of water, a couple of inches deep. The smell is clearly coming from down there.

So, do any of you knowledgeable guys know who we should get to come and look/sort it? I have googled but it seems there could be a number of causes/cures. OH is generally good with DIY etc. (he's a decorator) but is not prepared to go down in the crawl space. We have 2 small children so are a bit concerned about the possible mould and want it sorting asap.

Thanks for reading.

Browntoa

the favourite is probably water feed into the house , is it an old property ??

pozalina

It was built in 1935. Don't know if it's relevant but we do have a bit of a ventilation issue, as there are no air vents in the house. There's a bit of mould and some rising damp.

ormus

you should have air bricks in the walls below the DPC.

pozalina

Yes, we have blue bricks but seem to have quite a bit of mould in the kitchen nonetheless.

muckybutt

First thing i'd do is hire a sump pump and get it pumped out, if its a ground water problem then once pumped out you will need to dig a pit about 18" deeper than the floor surface, then permanently install a sump pump in there, this will then work automatically when the pit fills with water.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

If you do not have a combi boiler go into the loft & check the feed & expansion tank for the central heating system. See if the ball valve is letting in water.

If it is you have a leak from your rad pipes.

pozalina

muckybutt wrote: »

First thing i'd do is hire a sump pump and get it pumped out, if its a ground water problem then once pumped out you will need to dig a pit about 18" deeper than the floor surface, then permanently install a sump pump in there, this will then work automatically when the pit fills with water.

So if, after using the sump pump more water appears, then it is likely to be ground water? Will look into this, thanks.

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

If you do not have a combi boiler go into the loft & check the feed & expansion tank for the central heating system. See if the ball valve is letting in water.

If it is you have a leak from your rad pipes.

Hi, we have a combi boiler so no water tank in the loft. Thanks for ruling it out

We checked the water again today and it had gone down a bit, so I'm thinking maybe it is due to rain etc.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

pozalina wrote: »

Hi, we have a combi boiler so no water tank in the loft. Thanks for ruling it out

No loss of pressure or air in rads etc?

If not the rad pipes are fine.

keystone

Are you on a hill (even a bit of a slope) and are you on clay? If so 95% it's ground water. My house is just like this. We have lived here 25 years, brought kids up in it and no-one died yet. Its bound to be damp below the DPC. You only have a rising damp problem if its getting damp and rising above the DPC level.

Cheers

Mojisola

We had a permanent pond under our floorboards when we bought our 1930s house - didn't know about it until after we'd moved in!

There were two causes - the driveway had been raised and, when it rained, water flowed in through the air bricks. The surveyor paid us compensation for not noticing that during the survey. Redoing the driveway eased that problem but, whenever it rained heavily, groundwater would rise through the earth underneath the house and sit there until it drained away. In a wet period, it could be there for ages.

We used a sump and a pump for years until replacing the floors with insulated concrete. The difference in the house is brilliant - much warmer and drier! Wish we'd done it years ago.