Bad damp and timber survey

[TweezerMay]

Oooof. We were expecting something - it was flagged in our level 3 survey that there were some damp areas, and the surveyor suggested a specialist damp and timber survey and I’m so glad we got one. It’s a late Victorian house so we knew there’d be something.

He thinks a drain the runs down the side of the house might be cracked, leaking into the walls and cellar, rotting the floor joists in two rooms that have suspended floors and there’s some active woodworm. There might be some dry rot in a bit that wasn’t accessible, and he could see woodworm there too.

So we’d have to get the drain fixed or any repairs on the floors would just come back. But then we’d be looking at getting all the joists ripped out and new floorboards put down in two rooms wouldn’t we? I have no idea how much this costs and how are you supposed to get quotes when you don’t live in the house yet?!

I don’t know what to do. I love the house but I don’t know how much of a mammoth job this will be to fix.

Does anyone have any similar experience? Is ripping a floor out one of those jobs that sounds like it should be straightforward but then you start and it turns out your house is actually falling down? I’ve been burnt before by jobs that escalate!

The damp surveyor should be able to give an estimate of cost, they tend to be overcautious. Most Victorian houses have some damp and dry rot.

The drain repair is likely to be 300-1000 unless there is something complicated. Then you would need to be patient and let the house dry our for a while like maybe a year. Then take part of the floor up and treat the woodworm and repair the floor if needed. You wouldnt have to take the whole floor up. If the joists run into the wet wall then they might be able to use metal joist hangers and /or cut and replace the rotten end with new wood and joining plates. If you are lucky and the joists run the other way, they might just need to replace one joist. Similar with floorboards, they can just replace the damaged bits.
In total you are looking at maybe £2000-£4000 and maybe a week's disruption for sorting the floor out.
I am assuming you live in a relatively normal sized Victorian terrace and that there are 2 ground floor rooms affected and neither are a kitchen.

Thank you so much @Geneticsbunny thats really helpful and exactly what I needed to hear. My brain flew off in a mad panic but that’s calmed me down a bit.

Yes they’re two approx 3x4m rooms, neither’s a kitchen. From looking at the survey photos it looks like the joists don’t go into the damp wall, so that might be hopeful 😁