Floorboard Rot and Neighbor negligence?

stuart45

Hard to be sure from the photo, but it looks like the joists may be built into the party wall. They are sitting on a sleeper wall, but there is no wall plate or DPC  visible. You may not be getting a good air flow from front to back.

stuart45

There might have been a problem there before as it looks like at least one of the joists has been replaced.

plumb1_2

Maybe the neighbours can sue you are it could have started in your property?

SeaVixen

plumb1_2 said:

Maybe the neighbours can sue you are it could have started in your property?

As others have said, working out where this started may be very difficult. My issue is that this could have been dealt with 6 months ago but they didn't tell me, nor did they take any action to protect their own house or investigate further. 
Still waiting to get a pro round to take a look, but that 6 months could be the difference between just replacing some of the floorboards and more significant structural damage.
Like others have said though, them being ignorant of how big an issue this was doesn't make them legally negligent, so I'm going to have to just let that go. Fingers crossed they take it seriously and agree to whatever we need to get this fixed! 

stuart45

The pro you get in needs to check the moisture content of the timbers and make sure there is a good air flow through the subfloor.  Key thing is to work out the source of the moisture and keep the structure dry. 

SeaVixen

Thanks @stuart45
Will make sure that happens!

Bendy_House

It looks quite localised - as far as the photo shows - so should not be a major task to fix. Obviously, the really important part is to find the cause, and sort that.

As for the repair itself, this will likely be little more than having all the rotten parts cut out, and some, everything treated (including the brickwork) with rot killer/preserver, and a new joist section sistered in. New floorboards to replace any affected.

It's an unusual location, being so far from the external walls - very unlikely to be water penetration from outside, then. No chimney breast in that area? How are the houses separated at roof level - does the party wall extend through the roof to separate the two of you, or is the roof continuous?

Bendy_House

So the joists run parallel to the party wall?

Is that piece of wood jacking up that joist?!

SeaVixen

Bendy_House said:

It looks quite localised - as far as the photo shows - so should not be a major task to fix. Obviously, the really important part is to find the cause, and sort that.

As for the repair itself, this will likely be little more than having all the rotten parts cut out, and some, everything treated (including the brickwork) with rot killer/preserver, and a new joist section sistered in. New floorboards to replace any affected.

It's an unusual location, being so far from the external walls - very unlikely to be water penetration from outside, then. No chimney breast in that area? How are the houses separated at roof level - does the party wall extend through the roof to separate the two of you, or is the roof continuous?

The party wall goes right up into the roof. 

There was once a chimney breast on the lounge party wall, but it was removed before we moved in. It was about 3/4 foot away from where we're seeing this issue. Possible that was a botched job: whoever removed it didn't remove the chimney stack from the attic, just everything underneath it. That came up in the survey, reduced the house price accordingly, and we got the unsupported pile of bricks in the attic removed before we moved in. 

As you say @Bendy_House, I'm hoping it is that simple. I think it will need to be the dining room as well given its so close though.

Though even that is going to be a nightmare. This is our first house, we've lived in it 2 years, neither of us are experienced at DIY so it's been a slow and tiring process but we learnt lots. We were just so proud of ourselves for finishing doing up every room bar the kitchen, which were saving up to get a new one fitted. Knowing the remedy work for this is probably going to undo lots of the  work we've done downstairs, as well as eat up all the savings for the kitchen and our holidays this year, is heart wrenching. 

Suppose this is just homeownership though, right? At least it's savings that this is absorbing, rather than grocery money ❤️

SeaVixen

Bendy_House said:

So the joists run parallel to the party wall?

Is that piece of wood jacking up that joist?!

Nope, in this picture the party wall would be at the far end, past the fluffy rot.

And yes, it does seem so... I didn't spot it while I was down there to get a proper look (distracted with the fluffy stuff) and don't want to go down again without a pro, hoping it's a photo angle issue and isn't quite as ridiculous as it seems. I've added that to the list of things to make sure is investigated/dealt with as part of this.
As well as my own personal "what the actual f**k!?!" list