Damp floor under carpet

[Imsorrylhaventaclue]

Yesterday we decided to lift the carpet/underlay in our front room (ground floor) to expose the lovely parquet underneath - only to find that the whole thing was saturated with water . We don’t have puddles, but it feels damp to the touch and if you sit on it you stand up with a wet patch on your clothes.

There’s maybe a foot around the fireplace that isn’t wet, otherwise it’s the whole floor.

Is there any chance it could just be condensation from having the rubber underlay directly over the original wood? It’s a Victorian house if that makes any difference.

My other thought is that it’s because they’ve rendered over the damp proof course - is that possible?

Either way, I was planning on leaving it for a bit to see if it dries out in the air, but not sure if it’s the sort of thing I need to address ASAP. I know the word ‘damp’ brings out the snake oil merchants and can’t afford to spend £££ on something that doesn’t fix it...

Panicking slightly that my whole house is leaking - any advice appreciated!

You have to find the original source for all that water. Is it coming (leaking) from your bathroom or kitchen?

Given how dry it had been that wet floor is down to a leak or water getting in from somewhere if it has rained very heavily just recently. If the room doesn't smell damp then I'd say it was a recent occurrence.

You have to find the original source for all that water

Thanks - yes, that is my question, what is the best way to find the source?

It’s definitely not the bathroom because that’s the far side of the house. The sink in the kitchen’s by the back door and the wet floor is at the front. There aren’t any central heating pipes running underneath either so it’s not one of those leaking.

My gut instinct is that to be so even across the floor it’s either got to be some sort of condensation, or that it’s coming up evenly under the house from somewhere. Is that even a thing?!

The kitchen is tiled so I can’t see if we’ve got the same issue there, but I’ve not seen any evidence of the tiles lifting etc (though they’ve only been down 3 years).

Oh and we had carpet and rubber underlay over the original parquet in our Edwardian house when we bought - dry as a bone underneath.

Is there a cellar underneath? We have a wet cellar (high water table) which is designed to flood (complete with drainage channel sunk into the floor). As a result of the dampness rising, the dining room and hallway which are above it need to be kept well ventilated.

I recently lifted up the old runner in the hall and discovered that the beautiful old floorboards underneath it were damp. I’ve binned the runner and am hoping the wood will dry out.

It looks quite odd - runner shaped rectangle of dull, matt, dampish wood surrounded by shiny waxed boards. I can only think that the non-slip underlay thing under the runner trapped moisture coming up from underneath. It sounds like you’ve got the same effect.

Where does the water main enter the house? Is the wet room at the same level as other parts of the house? Water finds the lowest point so a leak elsewhere could theoretically result in water in a different area.

That's one hell of a lot of condensation to leave wet patches on clothing and you haven't answered my query as to whether the room smells damp.

We had a leak in the pipe linking the house to the main. The water ran down the slight slope of the pipe and a lot of water built up in the cellar whilst we were away on holiday. It was easy to get it fixed, but drying everything out and having to replace things took a while.

MadMaryBoddington No cellar (unfortunately - I’d love a cellar ). Sounds like a similar type of thing, but I don’t know where my rising water is coming from.

wowfudge:

Where does the water main enter the house?
Through the front.

Is the wet room at the same level as other parts of the house? I think so - if there is a slight incline it’s not noticeable.

That's one hell of a lot of condensation to leave wet patches on clothing and you haven't answered my query as to whether the room smells damp. No, I’m typing on my phone and it takes a while - we cross-posted before. No obvious damp smell but there was some small patches of white mound under the underlay so it’s not super-super recent.

We had a leak in the pipe linking the house to the main. Interesting, thanks - how did you find out that this was the problem?

Have you got a crawl space? Check it is ventilated. I’ve had blocked up ventilation grills in the past that have caused problems. If the ground under the house is cold and damp and that is trapped by rubber underlay, I can imagine it having the same effect.

how did you find out that this was the problem?

When we got home from holiday and found the front half of the cellar under an inch of, thankfully clean, water.

I removed old carpet in my bedroom and the rubber underlay- underneath was wet. We left it to air and it was fine for new carpet.

Chances are, with a house of that age, that the metal supply pipe from the water main has corroded or fractured over time. What may have started as a tiny leak will get worse over time as the hole or crack in the pipe gets bigger. Can you access the area under the wet floor? Is it a suspended floor with airbricks in the external walls of the house below the levels of the floors internally? If you don't have cellars, there will be a crawl space with a suspended floor and there should be an access hatch somewhere - probably in a hallway.

Is it laid on a solid floor, or is it hollow underneath?

The Victorian cottage (part of a very basic terrace built for farm workers) that was our first house had floors laid directly on packed earth.

The floors were the original porous clay tiles, which was fine. the previous owner had tried to carpet over them, with obvious catastrophic results....

That said, the weather has been SO dry that I would guess that either a water main or a sewer is leaking for the floor to be that wet a the moment.

The ground under a house would take a lot longer than a couple of months of dry weather to dry out completely. My cellar becomes a refuge for frogs during droughts because it remains slightly damp; they come in up the drainage channel. I have to be careful not to step on them when going down there to bring up wine.

In my last house I had a damp problem. It eventually turned out to be the old lead pipe connecting the mains to the house. It had been a mystery to me where the damp was coming from (like you), until one night when it was quiet I heard a slight hissing. The water company came and listened to the pipes with a long rod and earpiece, determined there was a leak outside the front door and fixed it.
Which is a rather long winded way of saying, if you listen to the pipes (if accessible), can you hear anything? Preferably done late at night!

Depending on where a leak is, if you have a water meter and make sure anything using water is switched off, there is a bubble on the meter that will be moving despite nothing drawing water. This won't help you if the leak is before the meter.