Damp/dry rot problem/insurance - help!

Bojangles_3

mine is bojanglessw16@googlemail.com

Bojangles_3

Ooops, sorry, got it now, thanks Phil

Bojangles_3

I've just had a company called Freeflow drains put a camera down the drain and in his opinion my problem is not from there - it's all plastic and totally intact & operating as it should.

The guy that came around said it is more likely to be an area between my wall and my next door neighbour's fence - it's a terrace house, so difficult to see where my house ends and theirs begins. Here are photos of where I mean.The guy that came around said it is more likely to be an area between my wall and my next door neighbour's fence - it's a terrace house, so difficult to see where my house ends and theirs begins. Attached are photos of where I mean. The front of the adjoining houses seem to be unprotected with any DPC/render there and there's a fair amount of loose concrete - I may just chisel away at this myself later. He advised getting a reputable builder in to sort out this area externally.

I attach photos of the bay too. I've done some research on the web and I should maybe put air vents in either flank of the bay - they'd need to be channelled beneath the floor as outside ground level is higher than inside. Not sure how easy this would be nor how much it would cost. Also, I guess I'd need a vent/s either in that fron room or in the room at the back of the house. I'm not sure if the air would be interrupted between front and back - I guess there's no way of knowing...short of running a test once it's done to see if I can feel air in the vents.

Can you tell me how much this may cost? And what do you think of what the drain guy said?



http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/?action=view&current=Boundary-1.jpg

http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/?action=view&current=boundary1-1.jpg

http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/?action=view&current=boundary2-1.jpg



This is 1 flank of the bay where I think I'll try and get an airbrick added. Should have airbricks every 1.5metres.
http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/

somefriendlyuk

Hi bo –on the first photo you sent me, I can see a wall -your wall that can cause problems as it is attached to the house and when it rains the water hits the top and splashes back onto the wall-in addition there seems to be some sort of box work/brickwork covered in render(white anyway) –this also can cause problems for the same reason –not sure what its for –does the down-pipe go into this and into a drain or does the down-pipe discharge over it ? can’t really tell from the photo-anyway if the outbreak is mainly adjacent to this there is a fair assumption that this is your problem -chance that down-pipe/wall and boxing combination aren’t helping either. You are right about the air vents –should be at least one on either side – not hard to do or expensive –Vent (air bricks) cost a few quid and if the floor up in the house you can knock through fairly easily –the damp people will do this for next to nothing I would have thought (if there getting the other work) so I would let them do it. It can be more difficult to tell if you have good air flow throughout but if and when you have the floor up ask the contractor to make sure. There will be sleeper walls (probably be ) for the joists to rest on and theses should have half brick size holes in to enhance the flow. The dividing wall between the living room and dining room is usually a solid load bearing wall but the same applies-a few well placed holes are enough to increase the air flow _often they are already there or have been built with them –when the floors up try and look through and see if you can see the front vents daylight and see if you can feel a draught –if not do the same on the other side (dining room) –this may mean lifting the floor there.

If the camera –drain guy says its ok then you have no reason to doubt him –especially as its plastic pipe.



Not sure what more you can do until the exposure work takes place-Probably best of leaving it the hole I saw on the web based photos( the ones that kept zooming in or out!) should increase the air flow for now



Hope they get there soon

Doozergirl

Your ground level is higher outside? That is a bit of an issue...

I know you're angry and you have every right to be. A property developer that refurbishes house (cough! ) is like any buyer or homeowner in that they can choose how much or how little they do to a house. Just because they call themselves a developer, doesn't mean that they are professional, There are enough people out there who lack pride in their work and will cover anything to get a sale or are simply novices that don't understand buildings.

You really need to ask the D&T people that come, where they think this problem is coming from. In my experience, there is always a clear problem. If they can't find it, then I think it is time to call in a proper building surveyor from your insurance company to try and establish, or at least have a guess (and support soem sort of investigation) at where that water came/comes from.

I'd be surprised if it cost £7000 too - it cost me us that much in a very large 6 bedroom house that was riddled with dry rot!

funky_diabetic

I really feel for you and know what you mean about people/companies that have just taken the P.

In our house 2 years ago we came home from holiday to find a huge mushroom growing out of the wall into the hallway. After my girlfriend put her foot through the floor in our front roomwe got Rentacure out (as they had previosuly done work in the house prior to our purchasing it. They saud it was dry rot gave us all theBS and we agreed they needed to fix it soon. £11k later the whole of the ground floor of our house has been 'sorted'.

We noticed a month or so ago that there appeared to be some 'beard' in our understairs cupboard and I called a couple of local companies to check it out (didnt ask rentacure as they left the house in a bad way last time so wanted something better). All the other companies have refused to work in the house as the Rentacure guarantee they think will cause issues between 2 companies if anythign was ever to return.
So we called Retacure and had to pay them £120 up front just to look at it and they said this is a totally fresh outbreak and they dont need to sort t under the guarantee (he alo only lifted one floor board so obviously didnt geta good look under the floor). I dont undertsand how a firm can charge such ridiculous rates and then try and get out of paying when the 'new' bit is right by the old outbreak. If they had done their job correctly initially we shouldn't have this prolem. They said they sorted out the under floor air flow and treated every bit of wood that was reused and all new bits of wood.#

I hope everything works out with your place and dont get Rentacure in to attempt to 'fix' it.

I now need to find a chartered surveyor to come out and do a report on my house so i can take Rentacure to the small claims court.

Bojangles_3

Doozergirl and Somefriendly - THANK YOU for your help so far.:T

Fuelled with your advice, tonight I decided I could not wait any longer for the insurance reports and checks blah, blah and I started taking up the floor as the room was beginning to stink of mushrooms!

Pictures paint a thousand words:

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/rot1.jpg
The area I’ve uncovered tonight.


http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/rot2.jpg
The top and underside of the ‘mushroom’ I pulled out from between the joists – obviously where stink is coming from! – Look at the size of the thing!

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/rot3.jpg
Here’s the ‘mushroom’ reversed

Probably what was causing the brown rust like residue on surface – shown here, remember?
http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/?action=view&current=Skirting.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/rot4.jpg
You can see, more fungi on the plastic cushion that was between the laminate flooring and the floorboards. Also, the dark web under the laminate.

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/rot6.jpg
This shows the joist nearest the front of the bay, rotting at bottom, but you can just make out more fungus on the bricks. (There’s obviously a joist holding up a joist here – the gap between the floorboards and the bottom is about a foot). With a light push with a chisel, the edges of these floorboards came away.

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/rot7.jpg
You can see the amount of rotten wood that’s fallen into the void between the joists and some more of the patterns atop the floorboards.

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/rot8.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/rot9.jpg
You can see the pattern even spreading on the plastic.

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/rot10.jpg
Underside of the laminate again.

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/rot11.jpg
Mushroom on plastic, mmmm!


I have kept all these bits I’ve broken/scooped up. They are stored outside – away from wood! Just in case whoever sorts this out wants to see it/examine it.

I tried to pull the skirting off enough to look at the airbrick – in this pic you can see through from the outside – there appears to be something blocking it.
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/extvent.jpg

You can see from here, there is a brick – not cemented, just wedged in – which as far as I can tell, lets air flow over the top and underneath what is quite a large hole – I’d say a foot in height and the length of a brick across. Why did someone put a brick in the middle?
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/intvent1.jpg


The thing about this is, the air may have come in, but it’s got nowhere in the room or at the rear of the house to flow through. (So much for building regs!) Also, what use is this airflow if you’re going to stick skirting board right up against it? I’ll need to wait until the radiator’s off before I discover if the air can actually flow under the floor.

I'm pressing the insurance company to strip and reveal the extent of the problem. It's taken over a month, but it looks like they will pay for this. (Strand quoted £950 + vat just for this!)

Insurance Co sent their area manager round 2 days ago and he decided to get Chemdry in - they actually subcontracted to Infrared Investigations. They said it was rising damp all around the bay - there were high water readings from ground level half way up to the ceiling. These guys questioned whether the area that was done last year on the insurance was ever given anytime in between to let area dry out – good point (as you mentioned Doozergirl). No, it wasn’t. Therefore, is current problem because of this old moisture or a new source? Maybe there’s historic water absorbed into the brickwork or they also highlighted the dodgy render (readings on their machine went mental over this patch – it’s quite hard to make out on this pic, but there’s a loose oval shape of render just to the right of the drainpipe, just above the muck on top of the drain surround) –

http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/?action=view&current=Boundary-1.jpg


Could it be as ‘professional landlord’ said in his reply (on the other split post I made on this) that:

'The solum is the ground under the joists. Sometimes dampness can rise from there.

I once purchased a property it had serious damp problems, the previous owner had a Rentokil insurance policy on the house, and they would come out every few years, chop open the floor, replace some of the timber and spray to kill spores, Rentokil had been going to the property for over twenty years.


I was advised a new Damp Course would be req; quoted £000s...........WRONG!


The dampness was coming from the solum, FULL SURVEY MISSED IT’

Hope I’m not looking at this scenario.

So, I have to wait until insurers action a team in to reveal the entire problem. Will keep you all posted.

The guy from Strand Preservations, that did the work for the developer, came round and suggested that it may be worthwhile getting him and the developer to meet back at the property once the entire area is exposed to divvy up responsibility and discuss possible solutions. If only! Let’s hope! (Somefriendly, you did suggest they deserved a 2nd chance, again, thanks!) Strand do want to see details of the work done with insurance claim last year – he thinks they’re at fault a bit too.

[hope I’ve not bored you all senseless!]

Bojangles_3

The insurance co sent Charterhouse Construction round today and they've said they need to get a specialist in. (Yet more delays! & the house stinks of mushrooms!)

Here are more photos of what has been uncovered today - all areas that were treated by insurance company only 8 months ago! Rapid deterioration I think..

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/charter29-1.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/charter29.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/charter29-2.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/charter29-3.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319/Bojanglessw16/charter29-4.jpg

No doubt the insurance company will scratch their heads for another month or so.

Am really worried about the fumes in the house. We've all been coughing and even the guy from the insurance company today was choking abit at the end!

Who can I turn to next?

Please help, if you can...

Bo

somefriendlyuk

hello Bo, sorry i missed your last post -had a short holiday. These photos are alot clearer than the first ones you posted -sever dry rot! The smell of DR can be quite strong but i don't think harmful -more of a problem is the time this is taking -i know i suggested opening it up will let air flow in and help halt any growth but i did think we were talking about a couple of weeks -this is going on far to long -Are charterhouse another contractor or loss adjusters etc? This floor needs Taking up soon - I would go for the whole floor as well.

Another point -on the joists that look like they have been replaced during the
previous works there does not appear to be any isolation from the sub floor sleeper walls or from where they go into the walls -if this is so this is a very basic mistake and makes you wonder if any treatment at all took place. Also in the first photo -is that a waste pipe in the corner? If so is there any possibiliy it has been leaking -remember D R requires regular feeds of water.

Doozergirl

Oh my god, I'm so sorry for you - I've not seen anything like that.

I'm totally speechless. All of that needs to go. The whole lot. You need to push as hard as you can to get this sorted. At least your insurance company are starting to move now. That is thousands of pounds worth of damage

I really hope you get this sorted soon bojangles. You're so calm! I'd be causing merry hell!