Rising damp in old cottage: Injecting DPC on timber and concrete floor Damp can be a major issue in the home. Find answers to questions or post your own here.

[cheet22]

Hi,

New to the forum, so forgive me if theres already tons of posts on this (I'll start searching now!)

I move into a new house in 2 weeks, its an approx 120-140yr old stone 'cottage' with various extensions. Some of the floors are concrete, some timber. The survey and damp report came back that there is some rising damp, so I've had a quote of £3k +VAT to inject a DPC (guess its never had one)

The report did not specifcally say anything about the concrete floors, but did say that I should assume some floor joists need replacing, as the current owner had said he'd replaced some in 2 of the rooms.

So, my plan is to get in, get the floors up and replace joists where needed, and get this new DPC with a guarantee that the bank need.

My question is around the concrete floor parts - should I be looking at digging up to a level, adding a new membrane and relaying, or could this be more a case of applying some liquid (bitumen?) to the surface before laying underlay and carpet/flooring? I realise I need to get in to see whats what, but any general pointers greatly appreciated!
:D

[simonwar]

If you had a damp report, get hold of the surveyor and discuss this with him/her. They should be able to elaborate, ask questions, surveyors are great but can be a little ignorant of the fact we don't know as much as them.

I would avoid stabs in the dark on what to do, also you say you had a quote - surely the quoter could explain their logic. They should not blindly quote from a report and always do their own corroborative review of the problem as part of their quotation process.

Don't do anything until you have dug a little deeper, you could be wasting your time which is better spent on future problems.

I'd get another quote as well - I know its a pain - but why mess around with such a fundamental - imagine restoring or relaying a gorgeous oak floor in your lovely new cottage only to find it runied in 18months time through a rotting problem caused by damp in your floors? It will smell too?

S.