Standing water in cellar and damp joists, what's the best solution?

Dan678

We have a cellar in our house under the living room that has water coming into it, apparently from a nearby stream. There is a sump and pump to remove excess water, but there is still standing water. We had an insulation guy come round yesterday as another problem is the house is pretty cold, but he highlighted the damp in some of the joists. One of them has 25% damp, the others are around 18-20% (I haven't checked every one). He deals with spray foam and said this would insulate the floor and allow it to breath, but I've heard conflicting things about this stuff. At the minute, there is celotex between the joists, and he said this is trapping moisture and leading to the damp.

I was thinking of putting a dehumidifer down there to try to take away some of the moisture, but I wonder whether the ingress would mean whatever water I take from the air will just evaporate from the standing water and replace it. We have an open fuel chute for ventilation (though of course that makes it cold).

The other thing to add is that there is an adjacent cellar under the dining room which you can only see through a small hole in the wall - it is mostly filled with rubble, with perhaps 3-4 ft of space under the floodboards. You can clearly see the floor hasn't been insulated there, I guess because it would be impossible for someone to access. This means the dining room floor is freezing. The insulation guy suggested filling this hole so seal off the cellar, to help prevent cold, but to me it sounds like a bad idea in terms of ventilation and damp. I haven't checked the damp levels in those joists yet (in any case I'd only be able to reach in enough to check the first one or two).

Is there some kind of expert who come come round and tell us whether the dampness in the joists is a problem, and what we could do about it? And because we originally got someone round about insulation, whether this person could also advise against this? Something we realised with the spray foam guy is people will come round to promote their own product, so we can't actually work out what is best. Any advice would be well appreciated!

Fire_Fox

You need to address the water ingress first and foremost, sounds like you are trying! The joists may dry out as the cellar does.

A good deal of insulation you can do yourself: layers of flooring, window treatments in your dining room for example.

Dan678

Thanks. I'm trying to convince the misses to get carpet in the living room - in the dining room it would look a bit odd though. The thing that worries me about stopping the water ingress is that wouldn't it just come in elsewhere? Perhaps even up into the house, if we stopped it going into the cellar!

Fire_Fox

Dan678 wrote: »

Thanks. I'm trying to convince the misses to get carpet in the living room - in the dining room it would look a bit odd though. The thing that worries me about stopping the water ingress is that wouldn't it just come in elsewhere? Perhaps even up into the house, if we stopped it going into the cellar!

Why is a stream routed through your house in the first place? Is there disrepair in the banks further upstream say?

Do you just have bare floorboards? How does your lovely lady feel about large area rugs (can use thermal underlay)? Or modern cork flooring? The best stuff is apparently a cork sandwich (insulation bottom, appearance top) with 'wood' in between (MDF? Ply?).

paulmlpss

Our cellar used to get standing water in it. We have lived there a year now and she it rained it would always get water in there coming up through the floor. I thought it was the water table but read more into it online. Our walls was painted and wet so I scraped most of it off to let the walls breathe and they have now dried out. Also outside I tilted the slabs away from the house slightly so rainwater ran away from the house. Ours is bone dry now.

Mistral001

I would deal with dampness problem and treat what the guy, who is trying to sell you insulation, expert opinion on damp problems with a pinch of salt.

I suggest you get a bigger pump and check that you have enough ventilation in the basement. I would do this as a priority as the joists could start to rot if things stay as they are, insulation or no insulation.

FreeBear

Dan678 wrote: »

We had an insulation guy come round yesterday
...
He deals with spray foam and said this would insulate the floor and allow it to breath

Please, do not use spray on foam regardless of what this guy claims. If you do, in five or ten years time, you will have to replace the joists & floorboards at great expense.


The best way to insulate is to use fibreglass or sheeps wool batts held in place with wire netting. Breathable and easy to remove should it be needed.

Dan678

Thanks for the replies.

Why is a stream routed through your house in the first place? Is there disrepair in the banks further upstream say?

Do you just have bare floorboards? How does your lovely lady feel about large area rugs (can use thermal underlay)? Or modern cork flooring? The best stuff is apparently a cork sandwich (insulation bottom, appearance top) with 'wood' in between (MDF? Ply?).

Apparently it comes from a nearby spring - a park next up and up hill from out house. Thanks for the rug/cork suggestion will look into it.

I would deal with dampness problem and treat what the guy, who is trying to sell you insulation, expert opinion on damp problems with a pinch of salt.

I suggest you get a bigger pump and check that you have enough ventilation in the basement. I would do this as a priority as the joists could start to rot if things stay as they are, insulation or no insulation.

We are gonna check the pump is working as there shouldn't be standing water. I was also thinking a dehumidifier might help dry things but maybe it would be like p****ng in the wind? There is quite a large open fuel chute, and airbrick to the front, so I assume this is quite a bit of ventilation. I hope so, as it's cold enough down there.

The best way to insulate is to use fibreglass or sheeps wool batts held in place with wire netting. Breathable and easy to remove should it be needed.

It's currently insulated using Celotex, and I hope this is ok, as apparently it's the warmest stuff, and we are already quite cold in the house. It seems many other people have used this stuff so I assume and hope it will be ok if we can remove the standing water.

Fire_Fox

Stream wants encouraging to bypass your house. Council park? Does the stream stay on public land much after that? Council might be responsible for maintaining or managing the stream.

Worth bouncing e-mails around the council for a while. If you think the council is responsible, but are getting nowhere e-mail your ward councillors or MP.

It isn't a quick solution, but it might be a solution in the fullness of time.