Rot problem - skirting board

[Filmsroe789]

Hi there, hope someone can help me! A relatively small section of skirting board has mysteriously gone soft and has come away entirely when I’ve pushed around it. I hope it’s not dry rot!!😱

Is it penetrating damp?...what's under your carpet ..........any leaks from the heating pipe above it?

Thanks for reply. Not sure what penetrating damp is! No carpet, just concrete floor with ceramic tiles over- it’s in my utility room. No obvious leak from anywhere

Is there a drainpipe or leaky gutter directly outside? Or something built or leaning against the wall outside that might be trapping or wicking moisture in?

Thanks for the reply. The other side of the wall is my downstairs toilet, not the wall with the toilet and sink on though, the wall at right angles to that. No sign of a problem on the other side.

It's possible that you have a pipe under the concrete that has developed a slow leak. The rot isn't necessarily where the leak is, either as the water can travel along the channel and come up where there is somewhere it can soak through or evaporate eg a wall.

Speaking from bitter experience, here. Took us years to track down and only revealed itself when tiles came loose around the leak.

I’ve cleared it out a bit more now. The wall through to the toilet is brick.

Any suggestions for what I should do next please?

There looks to be a bit of a tide mark above the white plastic pipe? Could be rising damp?

Are the bricks wet? Rising damp is pretty rare - much more likely to be a leak.

The two copper pipes are hot central heating pipes. I think the white pipe is cold water.

If the plaster bridges the damp course it can cause damp, may just need an inch or two of plaster chipping away and the skirting replaced.

Thank you all for the advice! You think it’s ok to replace skirting board without investigating problem further then? Weirdly there doesn’t seem to be plaster behind the skirting board, just brick, the skirting board seems to have been put on before the wall was plastered?? Or the bottom section left unplastered for the damp proofing?? Is it ok to just replace skirting without plastering please? Good tip about painting both sides of skirting, thanks! (Sorry to sound so ignorant, unfortunately I am in these matters)

no!

I'm pretty sure you've got a plumbing leak. That's a lot of wet you've got, and there is plumbing around it.

It might be dripping onto the floor, in which case a plumber can fix it. It might be from a pipe buried in the concrete, in which case a sturdy plumber can break it out but a weedy fellow with petal-soft hands might suggest a builder.

Start by cutting away all the rotten and wet wood, back to clean dry undamaged material. It may be simpler to pull it off the whole wall. Don't replace it until the source of water is repaired and the wall and floor have dried out.

Oh dear, I’d better get a plumber in then. It does all feel very dry and crumbly tho- not wet at all - and it doesn’t smell damp, doesn’t smell of anything actually

Why have some previous posts been deleted??