rotten floor?

emilystrange

Hello


I have pulled back some flooring up in my kitchen today and found rotten plywood, if you touch it then you can see visible water i think it has come through from the bathroom that had a very bad leak. I have done this because i had mushrooms growing around the skirt board and daily slug trails (yuk) and if you run a screwdriver on the wall plaster just crumbles off, but the wall itself is not wet? and

Now i have pulled the some of the flooring up the smell is making me feel sick, do you think this is unsafe for my two year old daughter? because there is black mould on the wall.


I have had three inspectors from the housing association out about this and none have ever bothered to pull the flooring up and have a look, one jumped up and down on the floor and said its concrete (its wood) another said its condensation (clearly not) and one a few months back said leave this with me and i will have it sorted, all he did was send someone around to seal the floor were a mushroom had grown, it makes me angry because i think they are not taking me seriously, yet if they had bothered to look then maybe the rot might not have gotten so bad.

I am now going to treat this myself but don't know where to start, do i hire a surveyor? or contact a builder directly?


thank for listening

ormus

are you sure its plywood? plywood is rare for floorboards.
when was the leak stopped? how long ago.
there is no point doing the floor if theres any water leaks. the leak must be fixed first.

you need a builder. or DIY.
forget the surveyor. theyll charge you 500 quid to tell you what the builder will tell you for nowt.

ps
if you do use plywood, make sure its marine ply.
basic plywood is useless when it gets wet.

vax2002

The floor needs taking up, the plywood stripping out and the floor leaving to dry, a mop of bleach water, then it will then need new plywood lining and new flooring, if it is not, the wet rot will eat in to the floorboards once its eaten the ply and then in to the joists, it grows a black mould that eats wood.
Sealing it in will give it the environment it needs to thrive , it hates light.
The "inspectors" from the housing association wont have a clue what they are looking at or what you are talking about.

emilystrange

thanks for the speedy replies, four lots of vinyl have been laid over one another, why someone would even think of doing this i have no idea, then its plywood under all that followed by wooden floorboards. The leak was a year ago, i have pulled my bath panel out today and at the bottom of the wall is black mould.

I guess because of so many layers of vinyl and rotten plywood then its had no hope of drying out. I am just alittle bit concerned about how much work might be involved. Will the joists be rotten? if so will the whole kitchen need taking out?

The housing association did repair my bathroom by ripping the whole floor out and replacing the joists but since then have been no help with the kitchen floor which is why i would rather do it myself

chiefgoobster

Possibly daft question but are u allowed to do work like that in a property owned by a Housing Association ?
Unless you do it and they re-imburse you type of thing ?

emilystrange

Do you know i have no idea?! thank you for bringing that up, i never thought. Not a daft question after all. I am going to have to ring today and ask them. :T

vax2002

Without wanting to scare you I will provide you some expert information on the subject that you can draft in to a letter to send to the housing association.

Black mould that is formed in a air vacuum as under flooring with plywood lining is stachybotrys chartarum it forms on the cellulose that bonds plywood together, if it dries out as in when central heating is used it releases a toxin called mycotoxin in the dried spores.
Mycotoxin is responsible for serious lung diseases that present themselves as a constant flu like illness and causes bleeding to the lining of the lungs.
Your landlord or Housing association has a legal duty to ensure you are not exposed to such things as black mould spores, I would write a strongly worded letter outlining the things above including the science and let them have a google day at the housing association and then let you know what they intend to do, I would state that if the situation is not rectified ASAP you will seek legal redress under the right to repair legislation.

emilystrange

Should i not use my central heating then?

vax2002

There is no definitive answer, you would have to balance the odds of illness from cold to the odds of illness from mould spores distributed by the warm air.
Symptoms of early mycotoxin illnesses are constant low immune system, colds one after another and advanced infection can cause serious bleeding to the lining of the lungs and secondary infection.
Not all types of black Mould in the home are stachybotrys chartarum, that type is almost exclusive to damp air sealed areas with no UV light that have been subjected to leaking water that contains protein, it feeds on plywood bonding materials such as the cellulose that is used to bond flooring plywood together.
It is a very serious health hazard indeed and it needs to be rectified urgently, the room needs to be sealed during the procedure to prevent spores escaping and infecting other areas and an agent to kill the spores needs to be applied several times during the process.
I would suggest you outline this in a letter with a recommendation they have a "google day" on the points you have raised and raise awareness of the situation they have failed to recognise.
Then get back to you within 72 hours informing you how they intend to remove the contaminated flooring and plywood, treat the mould, prevent spore spread and re-install new flooring which must be an impervious flooring to BS standards in wet areas in local authority and housing association property.

chiefgoobster

vax2002

learnt a few things there myself !....cheers for the info

emilystrange

I rang them a few ago about the smell in the kitchen and have just rang back for an update as to when they plan on visiting, the 2nd of december ive been told. Should i leave it till then or write a letter? i am alittle scared now because my youngest child has been coughing for two weeks now. It might be just a cold though but i am not taking the chance, a visit to the doctors today is planned.

It upsets me because i have been telling them there is a problem for the past year and they have said there is nothing wrong, one of the answers a surveyor give was, there is nothing wrong with the vinyl flooring so they wont look at it?? its not the vinyl flooring thats the problem its under it.

thank you for your answers, you have answered more in half an hour then the association have in the past year