Just found out floorboards in inner bay window of bungalow are rotten

Phil4432

youth_leader said:

I will photograph the bay window in the front of the house in the light tomorrow Phil4432   I'm pleased to say my roofer has just texted, he does do gutters.  I've been trying to get the gutters cleaned since April without any luck and now get 'baptised' every time I go out of the front door, the joins are leaking badly where they've been bent to go round the porch.  Gutters at the back on the flat roofed extension aren't effective either, I might as well get a quote to replace the whole lot.

My last description is of the back bedroom.  I've been sleeping in there since I moved in and wonder if it's why I wake up with a sniffly nose every morning - so much mould. 

What can I use to pull up the carpet?  I wanted to get the carpet up in the other front bay window, and have just bent the fork

Get the gutters sorted out, this is very important!

You, a friend or family could maybe put some sealant or guttering tape in those joints, until you get someone to have a look at the whole guttering system. 

Are there signs of water ingress in the back bedroom?

I'd recommend getting a damp inspector to have a survey.  

youth_leader

Thanks Phil4432.  I couldn't relax in case it was the radiator leaking, and have now shifted the rest of the stuff, I am now sitting in the concrete floored lounge surrounded by the boxes and pictures that were by the radiator.  Can't put the pictures up until the decorator turns up, I asked him in June.  I'm pleased to say the mould stops before the radiator pipe but don't know where the pipes run yet.  I have a very timid elderly cat so won't be pulling any floor up in case she goes underneath, I'll have to contain her first.  

No signs of water ingress from the ceiling or chimney breast wall.  These carpets were laid in 2016.  However, there isn't a vent in the blocked up chimney breast - there is a vent in the other blocked up chimney in the front bedroom.  I'm going to have to pretend I've just moved in, and start again, I've had to turn the place upside down today. Thankfully I haven't bought any wardrobes yet, but the bedroom is still full of boxes because the loft boarding man never turned up. Lockdown has made everyone locally so busy but I don't mind waiting, I'm never ever moving again.

youth_leader

Thanks for the suggeston of photographing the bay window, now I've had a close look the mortar looks dreadful and I suspect rain has got in through it.  I have asked the company that replaced the cavity wall ties for a recommendation for someone to come and rake it out and repoint.  My surveyor is coming tomorrow, hopefully he'll have some constructive advice. 

youth_leader

Hello all and thanks for all your support following my thunder cracked floorboard in the bay window.  I think my fear about house repairs is due to only having a small amount of equity left, as well as having to find and deal with trades.  

The surveyor has been this morning and it is wet rot in the bay window.  The floorboard disintegrated as he took it up, and the mycelium of the fungus was clearly seen.  Seems it could be because a wooden support piece is touching the brick wall.  The surveyor said it seems it is contained in one area, fingers crossed.

He thinks the black mould all over the chipboard under the underlay in the back bedroom is condensation, and is sending me information about a system I can have installed in the loft. I don't open the bedroom window often because it is a large one where someone could climb in, I worry I might forget to close it when I walk the dog.  I might have this window changed.  

I think I have already said I bought a dehumidifer, when I turn it on it is showing 86, which is high.

I am feeling so relieved that the company who did my cavity wall ties are able to do both of these works, and I won't have to ask around to find different people.  

Thanks again. 

theoretica

There are readily available various types of window opening restrictors which can let you open a window a small amount but not leave it easy for someone to open it further. Maybe this is something to think about if you would like to open that window more often.

youth_leader

Thank you theoretica, I'll research them as I'm sure it would be cheaper than having the whole window replaced, the surveyor suggested updating it with a window with trickle vents.  The vendor said she'd never been given keys to the windows and I paid someone to change all the handles so I would have keys, but they don't 'lock' them in place when open. 

Just had an email from the surveyor, it's dry rot in the bay window, not wet rot, not sure where I got the wet from!