Can I do this myself

Sekekama

Long story short had damp in entrance hallway independent damp surveyor identified air bricks was cause. 

I lowered trench of air brick 1 brick below was full of sludge sticks before and filled with gravel abit. 

Now thinking of lifting floorboards and dehumidy subfloor and put new floorboards in a week later. 

Been quoted £350 on labour alone can I do this myself is it easy?

FreeBear

Your floorboards are probably tongue & groove - Difficult to lift without damaging the boards. Running a dehumidifier won't achieve much. The void will still get damp. Make sure all the air bricks are clear, and the airflow should keep the void relatively dry.

Your floor looks to be in reasonable condition, so I'd leave it down. Go ripping it up, and you will probably have to get new boards planed to size - Standard modern floorboards are ~18mm thick, 1930s likely 20mm, and the widths will not be the same either (more expense).

Cheslea2010

Floor boards never go back down right in my experience. We had a victorian property with similar damp issues. Ended up cutting a 4 inch wide trench around the entire outside perimeter of the house. Solved all our downstairs damp issues.

lookbook

Cheslea2010 said:

Floor boards never go back down right in my experience. We had a victorian property with similar damp issues. Ended up cutting a 4 inch wide trench around the entire outside perimeter of the house. Solved all our downstairs damp issues.

Clever idea 💡 

moonpenny

Cheslea2010 said:

Floor boards never go back down right in my experience. We had a victorian property with similar damp issues. Ended up cutting a 4 inch wide trench around the entire outside perimeter of the house. Solved all our downstairs damp issues.

My son has similar problems with air bricks - what happens when it rains heavily? Does the air brick cavity fill with water?

moonpenny

Cheslea2010 said:

Floor boards never go back down right in my experience. We had a victorian property with similar damp issues. Ended up cutting a 4 inch wide trench around the entire outside perimeter of the house. Solved all our downstairs damp issues.

My son has similar problems with air bricks - what happens when it rains heavily? Does the air brick cavity fill with water?

Sekekama

FreeBear said:

Your floorboards are probably tongue & groove - Difficult to lift without damaging the boards. Running a dehumidifier won't achieve much. The void will still get damp. Make sure all the air bricks are clear, and the airflow should keep the void relatively dry.

Your floor looks to be in reasonable condition, so I'd leave it down. Go ripping it up, and you will probably have to get new boards planed to size - Standard modern floorboards are ~18mm thick, 1930s likely 20mm, and the widths will not be the same either (more expense).

I've dug down a brick below air brick bottom please see images attached. The edge of the floorboards near door are spongy but don't seem like will break (unless 3-4 people stood on it). 

The damp surveyor broke plastering in edge of archway so some rubble dropped below to subfloor. I've taken damp meter readings of the exposed archway and it reads between 20-30 most places. 

What would you do?

Sekekama

Cheslea2010 said:

Floor boards never go back down right in my experience. We had a victorian property with similar damp issues. Ended up cutting a 4 inch wide trench around the entire outside perimeter of the house. Solved all our downstairs damp issues.

The floorboards edge near door is spongy but doesn't seem like it will break but when damp surveyor broke into archway on side to check damp rubble dropped below to void. 

What do you think of my air bricks solution see images please 

FreeBear

Sekekama said:

FreeBear said:

Your floorboards are probably tongue & groove - Difficult to lift without damaging the boards. Running a dehumidifier won't achieve much. The void will still get damp. Make sure all the air bricks are clear, and the airflow should keep the void relatively dry.

Your floor looks to be in reasonable condition, so I'd leave it down. Go ripping it up, and you will probably have to get new boards planed to size - Standard modern floorboards are ~18mm thick, 1930s likely 20mm, and the widths will not be the same either (more expense).

I've dug down a brick below air brick bottom please see images attached. The edge of the floorboards near door are spongy but don't seem like will break (unless 3-4 people stood on it). 

The damp surveyor broke plastering in edge of archway so some rubble dropped below to subfloor. I've taken damp meter readings of the exposed archway and it reads between 20-30 most places. 

What would you do?

Depending on how "spongy" the boards are, you may have a bit of rot in the joists. If that is the case, you'll need to remove skirting as well as the floorboards. Plaster will get damaged in the process, so that will need patching afterwards - Starting to turn in to an expensive job...
Damp meters should never be used to get a definitive reading of moisture in a wall - They are only calibrated for untreated wood. In any other material, the readings will be off. However, used with a modicum of care, they can be used to identify areas that might be slightly damp.

Sekekama

FreeBear said:

Sekekama said:

FreeBear said:

Your floorboards are probably tongue & groove - Difficult to lift without damaging the boards. Running a dehumidifier won't achieve much. The void will still get damp. Make sure all the air bricks are clear, and the airflow should keep the void relatively dry.

Your floor looks to be in reasonable condition, so I'd leave it down. Go ripping it up, and you will probably have to get new boards planed to size - Standard modern floorboards are ~18mm thick, 1930s likely 20mm, and the widths will not be the same either (more expense).

I've dug down a brick below air brick bottom please see images attached. The edge of the floorboards near door are spongy but don't seem like will break (unless 3-4 people stood on it). 

The damp surveyor broke plastering in edge of archway so some rubble dropped below to subfloor. I've taken damp meter readings of the exposed archway and it reads between 20-30 most places. 

What would you do?

Depending on how "spongy" the boards are, you may have a bit of rot in the joists. If that is the case, you'll need to remove skirting as well as the floorboards. Plaster will get damaged in the process, so that will need patching afterwards - Starting to turn in to an expensive job...
Damp meters should never be used to get a definitive reading of moisture in a wall - They are only calibrated for untreated wood. In any other material, the readings will be off. However, used with a modicum of care, they can be used to identify areas that might be slightly damp.

I mean that hallway is small it is not likely to have 3-4 there at any one time. It's spongy if I stand in it with force if normally then just about okay. 

I've treated the cause hopefully (if you see images of how that air brick was before and how it is now) maybe could have dug abit deeper but a entire brick should be enough to stop rain trickling in?

TELLIT01

Cheslea2010 said:

Floor boards never go back down right in my experience. We had a victorian property with similar damp issues. Ended up cutting a 4 inch wide trench around the entire outside perimeter of the house. Solved all our downstairs damp issues.

Our next door neighbour did the same thing because block paving had been laid, higher than the old drive and bridged the DPC.  Creating that gap sorted all their damp problems.