Victorian Terrace ~ Remove concrete floors or have DPC injected?!?

cavegitl

Hi,

We have recently purchased a Victorian Terrace as a home for our family, which requires a fair bit of renovation.

It was owned by the same family since being built in 1890 until 2006 when it was sold to an absolute DIY criminal who has butchered the house in many ways and our task is to try and undo some of his damage.

The building survey stated that there was rising damp in internal walls owing to no DPC in those walls and a recommendation that we have DPC's injected.

Now none of the other houses in the terrace have damp or any problems with rising damp and the only difference with our house is that the DIY cowboy bought himself a concrete mixer and laid concrete all over the ground floor.

I have read in a few places that this is what will be causing the rising damp as originally the house had typical suspended timber floors and air bricks below to allow ventilation.

So as per my heading...i'm after advise on what to do, have the concrete taken up and reinstate suspended timber floors or have DPC injected into the walls where there is damp rising? And any advise on the cost implications of these options also gratefully received.

I ultimately want underfloor heating and associated insulation on the ground floor too if that effects the advise?

Many thanks!

SG27

If its a lack of ventilation causing the damp then injecting a DPC will be a waste of time!

I've had lots of good advice from the forum on https://www.periodproperty.co.uk

spannerzone

Yep, unlikely to be rising damp, assuming it even exists (see that Period website linked above if in doubt)

Could be many reasons, concrete floor incorrectly laid and causing damp to be drawn up between the wall/floor.... could be lack of ventilation so maybe extraction fans in kitchen and bathroom. Could be interstitial, could be outside ground level is too high (raised flower bed or driveway against outside wall etc)

cavegitl

The damp is coming up from the ground up the internal walls and meets all the usual criteria for rising damp, including a surveyor saying it was rising damp having used a damp meter to take readings!

The damp only began when the DIY concrete floor was put down.

Vistorian houses usually have airbricks and mine is no exception. However the airbricks are no longer effective because there is no suspended floor that allows drafts and there has been concrete laid on the internal floor.

It's not condensation. It doesn't behave like condensation and there is no issue with ventilation in the house apart from what may have been caused by the concrete floors being laid.

There are many many experts advising online that concrete floors cause problems in Victorian houses for the reasons I have described.

So my question is regarding what would be more economical taking up the concrete or having DPC's injected not to debate whether or not i've got rising damp. It's fairly obvious the house has rising damp unfortunately and I have a surveyors report to confirm that.

smashingyour...

He must have laid a fair bit of concrete, have you looked under a neighbours floor to see where ground level is under their suspended floor? The building may have a state damp course but the question is, did he put a membrane down before the concrete?

cavegitl

With the standard of the work done in the house...(the surveyors word was "butchered") I am expecting the worst in regards to all his DIY.

I have found several websites where experts have written that rising damp in Victorian houses is a common problem when concrete floors have been laid, so I think understanding the problem is fairly straight forward. Suspended timber floors breathe, they have gaps and the drafts come in via the air bricks. The concrete floor has been laid above the level of the air bricks so the foundations no longer breathe and the internal walls are carrying the water up.

My question is what is more practical and economical...taking up the concrete and reinstating a suspended timber floor or adding damp proof courses to the internal walls?

Does anyone have advise on this please?

Technical_Dave

Put it back as it was designed, don't try and bodge it further.

wallbash

Guilty !

I ripped up the wooden floor in my Victorian Terrace house back in the early eighties , yes it was wooden , but it was completely rotten.There was only a few inches beneath the floor before we hit the ground.

As we were removing a chimney breast and knocking down a couple of walls , the hardcore was on site.
After blinding with sand , plastic DPM was laid , and carried up the wall . Lots of concrete was mixed, the visible DPM was then trimmed and two coats of black ???? was painted on . All under the eyes of the building inspector . Then after a number of weeks the floor was professionally screeded .At the time , the building inspector said the regs required either a plastic or a black ?? , he was pleased to see we did both.

Put it back as it was designed, don't try and bodge it further.

Original floor was never 'designed. for modern living ,if you require central heating , no double glazing, fitted carpets etc etc you have to move with the times.

Before you do anything , find out where the damp is coming from.

Now I was once told , placing a glass upside down sealed with plasticine on a concrete floor , showed the presence of damp??

Taking up the floor I installed thirty years ago would be a mammoth task , I dread to think how many skips it would take.

cavegitl

No one in our terrace houses has any problems with rising damp and the only difference between our house and the others in the same row is that the previous owner bought his own cement mixer and covered the ground floor in the our house with it.

The quality of his workmanship elsewhere is extremely poor. EXTREMELY. (toilets raised onto little blocks of wood), gas pipes cased in concrete (which corrodes copper) which will have to be removed, radiators behind glass doors so that when the doors opened the radiators smashed through lower panels (we bought the house with doors without lower panels etc etc. I have no faith whatsoever that he even bothered installing a damp proof course, or that if he did, it was laid correctly. Some of the things he has done are unsafe, some lazy, some just simply insane.

None of the work he has done has any building regs, so our plan is to fix all the issues within building regs and then have them inspect and hopefully sign off. I will also follow their advise etc.

I am just aware that retrofitting damp proof courses is expensive and usually needs to be done by a professional team. However, I have no idea of the cost of pulling up the concrete and reinstating a suspended timber floor so wondering whether that might be both more practical and economical? Admittedly it will be a hell of a job and as wallbash suggests probably a fair few skips full, but we are planning extensive renovations anyway, so weighing it all up financially and practically.

We are having to have a new roof, new flashing, new windows, new heating system, demolish an attached out building which foundations have failed...so there will be some fairly major upheaval anyway.

smashingyour...

There is no point installing a dpc until you know for sure whether there is a mmembrane under the floor.

wallbash

We are having to have a new roof, new flashing, new windows, new heating system, demolish an attached out building which foundations have failed...so there will be some fairly major upheaval anyway.

If you are interested
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1186031


Starts on the previous page , your list seems daunting but is achievable.


Thinking about removing the whole floor ?..... that would include the staircase. All the skirting boards ,and of course then its re plastering , job is getting bigger and bigger.

Skips around here are about £150 plus ....... £150 x ??
Also hiring 'breakers' , sheer task of moving concrete outside to the skip .



The more I think of the problem , removing existing floor is not an option .

Sorry