Is this the reason for damp and cold

Kaz1977

My partners property is riddled with damp, and freezing cold, mainly in the bedrooms, today whilst laying a carpet in one of the bedrooms we discovered an inch wide gap in the floor, the stretch of the exterior wall, next to the skirting board, and loosely filled with foam. Is this normal? Any idea why?
Any help would be appreciated, as don't want to lay the carpet until it's filled if need be.

Aylesbury_Duck

Might be, might not be. Impossible to tell from your brief description but the foam being there suggests there was a draught and the foam is a bodge.

If it's the bedrooms that are particularly cold, it's also probably down to roof insulation. Have you been up in the loft to see how well it's insulated?

JimmyChanga

On a top floor a gap in the floorboards won't cause this. On the ground floor cold air will get in. But I doubt your damp/cold issues are down to this.

Usually floorboards laid at the edges are hard to remove because of the plaster and skirting. Maybe someone just cut along it for access to wiring and then didn't bother replacing that small area.

Kaz1977

It's a ground floor flat, maybe a stupid post to ask but didn't want to contact the landlord for something that's usual, but it looks a quick fix to a slack build to us.
Just another thing to add to the long list of fixes they tend to try and avoid. Thankfully there is a new law introduced about damp and disrepair

Kaz1977

The floor is concrete, and as before it's a ground floor, going to investigate further in the other bedroom and kitchen to see if it spans the whole length of the building but those 2 rooms are always the coldest, and impossible to warm even with heating on

JimmyChanga

Is the concrete floor dry? Are walls damp?

Is the ground outside your flat at least 15cm below the inside concrete floor height?