Can't breathe in the house

[Feelings]

Hello, we just bought a house recently and have been living in it now for approx 1 1/2 weeks.

The first 4 days weren't so bad, could smell a musty scent at the bottom of the stairs.
Since then, I have suffered burning in my mouth, throat, airways, they get so dried up that I can't cough out whatever's irritating me.
The worst part is that it has also affected my 5 year old who wakes up every morning coughing and saying her throat hurts.

I think we've identified two problem areas.
The first is under the stairs, the house is Victorian, someone has concreted around the wooden post that holds the staircase, so this has rotted and gone soft and wet down into the foundations. It seems to be affecting the other side of the stairs too which is up against a concrete wall.

Secondly, the living room hasn't been concreted, it's floorboards, we've taken a look under the carpet and there was mould, black and white. But it's not dry rot (had the damp person out) he says that there doesn't appear to be any fungus, but I can definitely smell mustyness.

So our thoughts were to have the floorboards taken out, have it lined and then concreted. The damp person is coming to splice the stairs so he can get to the rotten post that's in the ground and he's then tanking the bricks that are supporting under the stairs and concreting the hole.

Is this going to stop whatever is bothering us?

I have cried everyday so far, I feel sorry for my DD. We've not even settled into the house properly yet, it's a nightmare!

These are the steps I've taken so far:
Two air purifiers - one up and one downstairs.
Dehumidifier on the go 24/7
I've cleaned any visible mould and hoovered.
Had the dehumidifier under the stairs to try and dry out the rotten wood.

Basically all of this hasn't alleviated our symptoms and now I'm quite desperate because we can't sleep in the house anymore.

Can someone suggest what more could be done? Thanks.

I’m mould sensitive. I would be stressed too.

We had a house that was prone simply the design of the house caused warm damp air to linger and we installed a positive input ventilation unit. It brings fresh air into the house pushing again damp air out.
You have to obviously have it treated but the root cause is essential.

Because it’s thought by some that there are individuals seem unable to properly detox from the toxins I would encourage you to have this tested if you are continuing in the environment. Keep windows open as much as possible.

lots and lots of ventilation.

If you take up some floorboards the subfloor void can dry out.

There should be enough airbricks for a crossflow of air to blow under the floor, in one side and out the other. Perhaps they have been blocked up by ignorant building work.

If there are airbricks but it is still abnormally damp, I'd suspect a water leak. Is there a water meter? Do you know where the outside stopcock is (there is also one on the side of the water meter). Is your hearing good?

Ask around for a recommended experienced local plumber, preferably wrinkly (advertising websites are not recommendations).

BTW the concreting will not have caused the water. Most likely it was an attempt to hide or get round it without fixing the source.

pps

tanking also does not cure water leaks.

Thank you so much for your responses.
Funnily enough I had a survey for one of those positive airflow units to be put in today.

I have all the windows open all day, and I think I will leave them open at night now too.

I've had a quote back for the damp under the stairs and it includes having 3 huge plastic air bricks put in for the subfloor in the living room.

It's definitely wet rot according to the damp specialist, and I found more of it under the stairs! No wonder it pongs under there.

I'm trying not to give up but I just want to run away and abandon the house

piglet yes I read into tanking and other damp courses and have seen it doesn't really cure the issue.
Not sure what else we could do with wet bricks though?

That's just miserable for you OP.

What kind of survey did you have?

A decent survey should have picked this up.

piglet sorry I actually missed your first post.

To answer your questions, previous owners have concreted all downstairs apart from the living room. There are two small air bricks allowing air flow under there, but that's where the air flow ends because on either side it's been bricked up to the wall so there's no airflow going through the subfloor if you see what I mean?

There is airflow but it's not passing from one room to the other, I'm confusing myself now!

Basically it's stagnant airflow, it's there but it's causing a horrible smell to build up in the living room. It's the same sort of smell coming from the wet rot under the stairs...

I had a homebuyers survey done and he did note mould, but the white kind, which wasn't under the floorboards, just under the carpet (he had spilt something and not cleaned it up)

usually when people remove a wooden floor and fill in with concrete, it's because the floor has rotted.

Rot is caused by water.

Water pipes commonly leak after a hundred years or so.

In a Victorian house the water supply pipe often runs under the hall floor, to the kitchen at the back of the house. Where's yours?

Have you got a water meter?

Do you know where the outside stopcock is?

Ugh I genuinely hope it isn't a leak. I don't even know where the pipes would be I'm ashamed to say. There are some radiator pipes under the floorboards in the living room and that's all I can see under there.

The stopcock is something we're still looking for! But I think it may be located in the front garden way down and I think it might be one of those Victorian ones you need a key for?

I'll have to ask next door there house is a mirror Image of ours.

Just for clarification, the floorboards are bone dry. It just stinks under there and hurts my throat if I get my head right down there and breathe in.

the pipe is usually next to where the front gate was, when the house was built, running in a straight line to where the kitchen sink was, when the house was built.

You might see marks in the pavement, if the waterpipe has been renewed since the pavement was laid.
If you have a water meter there is probably a black plastic hatch, about six inches square. It might be marked "XW" where "X" is the name of your regional Water company.

Sadly there is no water meter. But shall have to look at the front of the house when I get home!

I'm back! So I found a tap under the sink, turned it... and nothing. It does nothing. So I'm still clueless as to where the stopcock is, or if that's it why it doesn't turn the water off.

I spoke to the neighbours and they said that they're surprised there's damp as previous owner took steps to get rid of it. They also said his drain collapsed a couple of years ago now but that he had that fixed. Could this be the reason it's moist under the stairs?

It shouldn't still be wet after so long. The repairs might or might not have been good.

You need a stopcock outside the house, or in the pavement.

If my suspicion is correct, it will be a pipe under the house or close to it, so a tap under the sink won't fix it.

There maybe an insurance you can buy through your local water authority which after a certain period would help you get to the bottom of a suspected leak. I don’t know anymore than that but worth checking out.

If the house is a Victorian terrace, it's possible there isn't an individual stop tap for your house: it could be outside another house in the street or even in another house's cellar. Have you asked your neighbours if they know where the mains stop tap is?

I did and their stop tap is under the sink. So god knows.

How would I know if there's a leak?

Where we used to live the tarmac pavements were resurfaced and they covered over the little water stop tap covers. Is it possible that has happened on your street? I would walk up and down and see if you can see anything in the pavement. Typically the covers are close to garden walls or gates and look like this.

Thanks I think there's one of those at the front actually, I noticed it yesterday.

Then the mains stop cock will be under the lid. It might well be a hinged lid.

stop crying. ring your water company and ask for help locating your external stopcock. they will check and if it is jammed will replace for free.

what did the survey say?

when you turn it off, do it at a quiet time and get a young person with sharp hearing to stand silently in the kitchen. Do they notice ambient noise change when you turn the stopcock on and off? A leak causes very soft white noise. You only notice it when it stops and starts. A plumber can test in another way.

If you have a water meter, there is another way of detecting a small leak (not just the digits)

Hello, so have further news, Carpenter is coming tomorrow to take out rotten wood. In the mean time I've had the positive output ventilation system put in and oh my god I can breathe again!!! The burning has almost disappeared.

Obviously this has nothing to do with a potential leak, but I'm going to get a plumber out because I think they'll know better than me and where to find things - as it turns out I'm absolutely useless at locating stuff.

Thanks to all for your recommendations and although my issue has obviously not resolved, I feel like you've all been really helpful with your suggestions and it's given me something to go off. So I'm going to try and sort things out bit by bit!

Many Victorian houses were built without foundations, ie: directly onto the ground. The concrete may have been an attempt at fixing a problem with movement or to cover up an underground water source. Try to find out if there are any underground streams.

A full structural survey would have been the way to go with an old property, unfortunately a bit too late but hopefully you will be able to get it sorted out.