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Good morning all.

We completed on our house on Wednesday and spent yesterday pulling up carpets, underlay and grip strips so we could put the laminate flooring down.

In the living room we noticed the first four floorboards in one corner were damp to the touch so we lifted them up the have a look.

I've included a picture, you can see the joist is very damp near the wall then gradually dries out as you move along. The house is over 100 years old so it's got solid walls, there's no pipes and plumbing in the area and the next four joists have similar issues but each subsequent joist is affected less and less.

I'm assuming a damp survey is required to find out where the moisture is coming from? We know very little about DIY and google is telling us to call a carpenter.

Gosh that looks wet. What's the weather been like?
Yes, have a damp and timber survey. In the meantime, look outside for cracked render, or anything else that may be letting water in.

Is it at the corner of your house? If so, check the roof and gutters/drain pipes outside to see if there’s a problem there first.
Whats on the other side of that wall?

Don’t bother with a damp survey (at least not to start with - most of them are just interested in selling injected DPCs of questionable utility). You want a good general builder with experience of period properties, in all likelihood.

In the short term I would be looking for exterior ground level on the other side of that wall, leaking downpipes, broken drains etc. The water that has rotted those joists has come from somewhere - you need to find the source and remove it.

There’s no sense in replacing the joists until you have solved the water ingress that has caused the rot - as I’m sure you realise.

If it's an external wall, also check how high the ground surface is. If it's been built up higher than the original surface and above the damp-proof course (eg paving slabs laid on top of old slabs) apparently it can result in moisture from rainwater seeping into the brickwork and then into the joists.

I was buying a house that age once and got a damp survey. They said we'd need to rip up the floors and replace all the joists due to damp. I would definitely recommend a damp survey. Did your regular survey mention damp at all?

Are there signs of damp proof on the walls too, at the bottom? That wallpaper looks a bit bubbly. If it's been a long term problem you might need to remove it and find black mould on the wall. You can get a special liquid for cleaning that. But don't do that yet.

As @macshoto said, you need to find and rectify the cause first. Then let everything dry out before remedial work can start. Might need a dehumidifier. Depending how bad the damage is, some wood might need replacing if it's become rotten.

I agree it's either caused by the ground level outside being higher than the damp course or water arriving at the wall outside from a leaking drainpipe or guttering.

It could be as simple as soil level outside or something leaning against the wall e.g. old sacks of rubble.

In my experience a damp survey isn't money well spent. Have a good look around yourself and Google it.

My biggest tip for you is to get yourself on renovation forums. There are so many knowledgeable and experienced people on them. Tradespeople and serial renovators who will be able to give you good advice.

It's an external wall with it being the corner of the room but not the house, the hall way in on the other side of the internal wall. on the outside is the street (It's an old terrace). There's no sign of damage to the render and we can't find any obvious sign of water ingress. The floor is two steps above street level and the ground doesn't feel particularly wet to the touch but it's not bone dry either. There's also no plumbing near by that we can see however the mains supply isn't too far away.

The walls look shabby but that's a general issue through out the house. All the houses on the street have issues with condensation if you don't ventilate. We live in an almost identical house and all the issues with moisture and black mold vanished when we moved in because we air the house and use a dehumidifier.

Post some photos of the outside please. If there are no pipes nearby (including radiators) then I would be thinking of a gulley or downpipe.

Please also sketch a floorplan, showing the position of the outside stopcock (next to where the front gate used to be when the house was built) and the inside stopcock (where the kitchen sink used to be when the house was built) with a straight line drawn between them, and the position of the wet patch. Also of watery things such as sinks, washing machines and WCs.

Do not allow anyone who sells silicone injections into your home.

BTW there seems to be quite a lot of rubbish under the floor. Shovel it out. It will harbour damp and rot.

old properties are different. This is an older house so modern chemicals are the exact opposite of what it needs.
new homes as they have a different construction

You have really sensible advice here, on the most part. Please also join the Facebook group Your Old House Uk (renovation:restoration) as it’s a supportive and knowledge group for those with older properties

Partner is feeling quite low, that room is going to be out of commission for a while and he just wants to be in our home and settled by Christmas.

Oh well.

The other source of good advice and information I would recommend is the Period Property UK Forum - which has lots of people familiar with older houses.

With it being a terrace, could it be that the water source is from the property up the street from you (assuming you are on any form of a slope)? It may also be worth enquiring whether they have suffered from a leak in the past.

The water is coming from somewhere. I have seen the common causes. Photos and the sketch may well help track it down.

I’d also be concerned about the electric socket being placed on the skirting board, so near to the damp.
Did you get an in depth survey on the property? As you have said that you know little about DIY, I’d consider getting a survey or a builder to look over the property to avoid any more surprises like this.

Just a quick update.

We've had really bad weather here today, lots of rain and wind, so we decided to use it to our advantage.

Back of the house, there was nothing to see.

Front of the house, we went upstairs to the master bedroom, there was the smallest little spot of dampness poking out from under a skirting board on the exterior wall. We lifted the boards and there was water on the stone work, localized between two floor joists. We put a little plastic tub there and went for a cuppa, when we came back there was a little puddle of water in there.

The area is directly under a window so we felt the wall and it was dry but it sounded hollow if you tapped it.

I gave it a tap with a hammer and a perfectly flat piece of plaster about the size of an A4 piece of paper came away in one piece. Behind it the wall was soaking wet, the plaster has separated leaving a small gap that the water was running down but you'd never know just by looking at it.

I'm guessing the water is getting in through the window frame some how? The area above the window is solid and dry, I treble checked.

Good detective work. What's the window frame made of, wood or uPVC? If wood, would expect that to be obviously damp. If uPVC, maybe the sealant between the frame and sill has degraded. But would need to have been a lot of rain to soak so far down the wall.

It's a uPCV window. I have no idea how long it's been this way, could be months or years for all I know.

I don't know if this is the cause of the problems downstairs but it's something,

Was it below the side part of the eindiw?

Some pics of the inside and outside would help.

Plastic windows are made of hollow sections, and (supposed to be) designed so that if water gets in, it is diverted towards the sill and drips out through drainage holes at the bottom.

Plastic doors are occasionally wrongly fitted so the drain holes drip into the house, but I don't see this happening with windows.

If you look at a ground floor one (and they are the same type) you should be able to see the drains, so check they are not blocked.

Are the windows fitted in the London style, recessed into the room, or are they flush with the outside of the house, with a window board inside (it is not a sill) where you can put ornaments and the cat sits?

You mention the house is stone so there is probably some kind of filler or trim round the window frame where it (should) meet the wall. I wonder if there is a gap?

I've booked a damp survey before finding this but should I call a window fitter instead?

The plastic tub filled up within a few hours so there's significant amounts of water getting in every time it's rains....and it rains here a lot!

The house has thick stone walls, all the windows are recessed so they sit bang in the center with equal space each side if that makes sense. The outside has a piece of stone as a window sill and its's plastic inside.

The wall is wet right up to the very bottom of the window sill which makes me think water is getting around the window frame but we don't know how to remove the sill it to check what's going on.

You will not be able to remove the plastic sill from the rest of the window frame. Is there a stone sill beneath it, and does it slope so water runs to the outside and drips off? Is it cracked?

Only from what I can see, there's the wall, and then the window sill, nothing else underneath it. From the outside, the window is sitting on the stone surround with a seal around the edge. Looks flat to the naked eye but there might be a slight slope.

I am not a window person, but if it seems to be coming from or round the window, ask around for your local plastic window repairperson.

There is sure to be one, as a small business, because there is a constant demand for repairs and adjustments. Try to get recommendations for someone local who has been in business for some years. Note that websites where traders pay to be listed, and can remove unfavourable reviews, are advertising sites, not recommendation sites, even if they masquerade as such. Look for a local address and a local telephone number.

You don't need a national company

You probably don't need a new window

An experienced window person, familiar with your local building vernacular of similar age, will probably recognise the cause quite quickly.

BTW, look for nearby gutters and drainpipes that may be spilling or leaking. They show up best during and just after rain. Photos of the outside wall may show water marks.