damp stained lounge carpet - concrete floor

ThisIsWeird

homerhotspur said:

whaThisIsWeird said:

Are you sure it's a solid concrete floor, or could it be a suspended concrete type? The latter certainly shouldn't have DPM issues as it won't have one. As I understand.

Looking more like a leaking CH. Does your boiler have a whatsit?

what is a whatsit?

My apologies, hh. I'd asked previously if your boiler had a gauge, and I was reminding you of this in my incredibly funny manner

Others have explained the reasoning. Your system sounds a bit different. It would appear to be a pressurised hot cylinder, but not obviously a pressurised boiler/central heating system, as the boiler itself doesn't appear to have a pressure gauge. However, there then appears to be multiple pressure vessels fitted. 

We need to get to basics. 

1) Make and model of the boiler? A photo would be useful too. 

2) Does your downstairs have wall-mounted radiators, or underfloor heating?

3) have you had to 'top up' anything in your boiler/ch system this year?

ThisIsWeird

grumbler said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Are you sure it's a solid concrete floor, or could it be a suspended concrete type? The latter certainly shouldn't have DPM issues as it won't have one. As I understand.

Do you mean beam&block? If so, it it does have a DPM.

Yes, that's what I meant. Where does the DPM go?

homerhotspur

ThisIsWeird said:

homerhotspur said:

whaThisIsWeird said:

Are you sure it's a solid concrete floor, or could it be a suspended concrete type? The latter certainly shouldn't have DPM issues as it won't have one. As I understand.

Looking more like a leaking CH. Does your boiler have a whatsit?

what is a whatsit?

My apologies, hh. I'd asked previously if your boiler had a gauge, and I was reminding you of this in my incredibly funny manner

Others have explained the reasoning. Your system sounds a bit different. It would appear to be a pressurised hot cylinder, but not obviously a pressurised boiler/central heating system, as the boiler itself doesn't appear to have a pressure gauge. However, there then appears to be multiple pressure vessels fitted. 

We need to get to basics. 

1) Make and model of the boiler? A photo would be useful too. 

2) Does your downstairs have wall-mounted radiators, or underfloor heating?

3) have you had to 'top up' anything in your boiler/ch system this year?

1) Baxi eco blue advance
2) Wall mounted radiators
3) No

I was shown how to top up the pressure when the boiler and cylinders were fitted, so that is definitely a thing with this set up.

homerhotspur

photos of boiler and cylinder, expansion tanks and pressure gauge

grumbler

ThisIsWeird said:

grumbler said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Are you sure it's a solid concrete floor, or could it be a suspended concrete type? The latter certainly shouldn't have DPM issues as it won't have one. As I understand.
b

Do you mean beam&block? If so, it it does have a DPM.

Yes, that's what I meant. Where does the DPM go?

Between the blocks and the insulation. Also some membrane usually goes on top of the insulation to protect the foil from the screed, but it doesn't have to be a proper DPM.

ThisIsWeird

homerhotspur said:

ThisIsWeird said:

homerhotspur said:

whaThisIsWeird said:

Are you sure it's a solid concrete floor, or could it be a suspended concrete type? The latter certainly shouldn't have DPM issues as it won't have one. As I understand.

Looking more like a leaking CH. Does your boiler have a whatsit?

what is a whatsit?

My apologies, hh. I'd asked previously if your boiler had a gauge, and I was reminding you of this in my incredibly funny manner

Others have explained the reasoning. Your system sounds a bit different. It would appear to be a pressurised hot cylinder, but not obviously a pressurised boiler/central heating system, as the boiler itself doesn't appear to have a pressure gauge. However, there then appears to be multiple pressure vessels fitted. 

We need to get to basics. 

1) Make and model of the boiler? A photo would be useful too. 

2) Does your downstairs have wall-mounted radiators, or underfloor heating?

3) have you had to 'top up' anything in your boiler/ch system this year?

1) Baxi eco blue advance
2) Wall mounted radiators
3) No

I was shown how to top up the pressure when the boiler and cylinders were fitted, so that is definitely a thing with this set up.

Thanks.

Based on no top-up required, I'm going to speculate that your CH system isn't leaking. 

That leaves, I think, two options; you have 'rising' damp - I suspect very unlikely, as the water table is surely low, and DPMs just don't fail in no good reason, and not in multiple places at once - and a leaking pipe that is letting water land on top of the floor, and is then travelling under the vinyl tiles, popping up wherever there's a joint gap. That can easily disguise the actual source of the water.

Pure speculation, of course, but I think the obvious move is to full remove your carpet, and lift the tiles below. Then you can stand back and look at what happens, and where.

homerhotspur

ThisIsWeird said:

homerhotspur said:

ThisIsWeird said:

homerhotspur said:

whaThisIsWeird said:

Are you sure it's a solid concrete floor, or could it be a suspended concrete type? The latter certainly shouldn't have DPM issues as it won't have one. As I understand.

Looking more like a leaking CH. Does your boiler have a whatsit?

what is a whatsit?

My apologies, hh. I'd asked previously if your boiler had a gauge, and I was reminding you of this in my incredibly funny manner

Others have explained the reasoning. Your system sounds a bit different. It would appear to be a pressurised hot cylinder, but not obviously a pressurised boiler/central heating system, as the boiler itself doesn't appear to have a pressure gauge. However, there then appears to be multiple pressure vessels fitted. 

We need to get to basics. 

1) Make and model of the boiler? A photo would be useful too. 

2) Does your downstairs have wall-mounted radiators, or underfloor heating?

3) have you had to 'top up' anything in your boiler/ch system this year?

1) Baxi eco blue advance
2) Wall mounted radiators
3) No

I was shown how to top up the pressure when the boiler and cylinders were fitted, so that is definitely a thing with this set up.

Thanks.

Based on no top-up required, I'm going to speculate that your CH system isn't leaking. 

That leaves, I think, two options; you have 'rising' damp - I suspect very unlikely, as the water table is surely low, and DPMs just don't fail in no good reason, and not in multiple places at once - and a leaking pipe that is letting water land on top of the floor, and is then travelling under the vinyl tiles, popping up wherever there's a joint gap. That can easily disguise the actual source of the water.

Pure speculation, of course, but I think the obvious move is to full remove your carpet, and lift the tiles below. Then you can stand back and look at what happens, and where.

thank you very much. What sort of pipe would this likely be, a mains water pipe?

danrv

homerhotspur said:

This morning I have managed to pull back a section of carpet to reveal clear signs of damp staining on the underlay and underside of the carpet, but no sign of actual water/moisture on the floor underneath (which is covered in lino type vinyl tile squares.)

That is strange. 
See how it goes with the carpet and underlay pulled back for a while.
Surely if the moisture is rising up, the vinyl tiles would be wetter than the underlay and carpet.
My property has a single slightly damp patch in the carpet under the stairs.
Not wet but you can feel there's a tiny bit of moisture. Concrete floor with no central heating pipes.

plumb1_2

Barrett’s houses won’t have heating pipes in the concrete floor, they are behind the plasterboard walls. 10mm in plastic truncking. Fitted loads , If rads are in bay windows the pipes will be behind the skirting, after dropping down from above. 

looks like the dog 😊

homerhotspur

plumb1_2 said:

Barrett’s houses won’t have heating pipes in the concrete floor, they are behind the plasterboard walls. 10mm in plastic truncking. Fitted loads , If rads are in bay windows the pipes will be behind the skirting, after dropping down from above. 

looks like the dog 😊

Thanks, that is interesting and encouraging ( sort of) info. We can def rule out the dog though !