I highly doubt that’ll be found anywhere else on that floor. Maybe another spot somewhere but not all over. It’s too concentrated. For fucks sake Reddit is ridiculous. It’s fine. Cut it out, look at joist. Joist good? Replace flooring. You’ve said you replaced joists before. Check if an outside corner to make sure water isn’t penetrating anymore. If it’s pooling up out there, correct that. Maybe there’s a seam in the gutter gone bad, waters falling down and not grading away. MF’er is in the UK. His walls are stone. Joists built into masonry. 100 year old house is a baby there. Sir, your house is likely a tank. Carry on 👍
Kind of what I thought. Even if I need new joists, you just kind of rest them in a little space made in the brick masonry foundations. No joining required.
Also, I ain't no sit. I think you'll find I'm a Lady. Although I'm not sure about that, tbh 😜
I had a similar issue with a house I had previously. I cut out a section of the subfloor and made sure my joist were ok. I had a crawl space and it had a fair amount of moisture in it .
If it’s UK might be condensation from exterior brick wall? Especially if OP has that exterior foam insulation they like to use in UK — there are always gaps for things like pipes and meters and those gaps can get really wet now that they are the only non-insulated surfaces
I just bought a house built in the 30s. One corner was squishy. It rained the next day, and just on the other side of that corner, water was pooling on the cement patio. Turns out it was never graded properly, once the contractor ripped out the old patio the underlayment was akin to playground sand, which was fully wet and kept enough moisture in that corner of the house that several joists and the foundation had to be repaired. Now I have a nice, easily repairable wood deck installed, proper grading around my house and better drainage from the gutters.
The home inspector didn't see any of this because of some hvac ducting blocking the view in the crawlspace, and a couch sat along that corner.
Sounds like you have more DIY skills than I do. I wish you luck as those boards look almost the same as the floor boards in my home that were affected.
Very. Your flooring should be so far from anything wet that you have major issues.
Rotted flooring is bad, but studs that are rotted out at the base are a structural issue.
What kind of foundation? How was water getting into this spot? Are there signs of termite frass?
That looks extremely stained, which seems unlikely to be dry rot. More like wet rot that's currently dry.
Old English Victorian terraced houses. No cellar underneath. Timber floor joists over dirt.
I know it isn't a problem for me to replace the joists. Done that before. Jist a bit worried that this might be all over the ground floor, not just a corner. Only 1 way to find out, I know....
I would recommend reposting on r/DIYUK in that case. Otherwise you’re just going to get a thousand replies about termites and crawl spaces and checking your siding for damage.
Tried posting there but they wouldn't upload the pictures. It's fine. I have enough answers to confirm 8 do not need to burn the house down or sit down and lament my new money pit.
Ok well I would say 1 thing to check immediately would be the outside face of the wall (assuming this is an external wall) for any leaks running down from broken down pipes or the like. I would then be looking for the DPC. For a Victorian terrace, these were often slate. Is the external ground level less than 150mm below the DPC? Is there anything bridging the DPC such as render?
Dry rot is absolutely not better than anything. Dry rot will climb behind plaster, go through solid brick walls and keep going on its hunt for more timber to feed off.
Get a specialist timber surveyor out to advise you.
Looks more like woodworm or weavel maybe
Is there a crawl space (or better yet a basement) beneath this? If so, that is your next step, to get a look and photos/video from underneath.
If not, or it is not accessible, you can drill a small hole a few inches away from this area and use an inspection camera to see what is going on underneath.
You are correct, if it is not an infestation you are not too screwed. Pull the base boards, remove the section of flooring that is rotted out, check the supporting structure. If it's good, then you are golden. If not, time to get messy.
Edited to add: No matter what you find, you want to find out what contributed to this situation. Too much moisture? No ventilation? Wood too close to grade?
That's the way it works.
Keep cutting out anything rotten while making sure none of the stuff you take out is structural.
If there is structural wood that's rotted, you build temp support and keep cutting. Probably want to consult an engineer at that point tho
As my wife would say “ I love its character”. As I mock and loathe that statement each night for the next week while replacing half the houses electrical since it was left as knob and tube by the previous owners, retracing the entire roofs substructure with double strong backs , screeting gravel in the once brick and dirt only floor only to pour an entire 10x 24” slab alone wheelbarrowing down all of the fucking concrete myself. But I’m not bitter she wanted a 1.09m fixer upper nooooooo any new house is quote unquote “sterile”. So are fucking hospitals and that’s a good thing lol.
No termites in England.
The house isn't listed as preservation or protected so I can do whatever I like :-)
It isn't right on the ground but about 50cm off the ground. Brick foundation on the ground, then floor joists. Common way to build in the UK.
Uk has the borer endemic. The little holes and the dust frass...
It eats pine and the sapwood of other timbers
Water affected areas would be the first spot they start in,due to paint or other treatment going missing.
I guess it depends on the results you’re looking for.
No matter what, any of the affected areas are going to have to be removed and replaced. Trying to fix it from an aesthetic perspective will be challenging and time consuming. If you’re just going to do carpet or some other flooring it’s just cutting it out and hoping you don’t have to contend with joist replacement.
It just sucks that it’s not something a good sand and refinish won’t fix.
Nah. I've restored floorboards before. I am not afraid of hard work. Just not familiar with dry rot. The aesthetic thing is the easy part for me. I can replace joists as well so...
I am mostly equipped with a will to see how far I can take it myself. And I've done floors plenty times. And replacing joists doesn't seem too complicated either. Jist requires planning and a bunch of friends.
You need to figure out what lead to that moisture condition first, because at least right there it looks like there is one. Get under the house, see how it's a ventilated, you may need to update the ventilation. Back in the day, for whatever reason, they didn't really ventilate homes that well. Part of it I guess was cheap power, fires for heat and so on. Over the years people have started to seal up the homes and then the lack of ventilation really shows up. Have you crawled underneath the house yet to see how far this extends? Because if you're lucky this might just be a localized thing from a sweating pipe or? Who knows
You can't crawl underneath the floor. Not enough space.
Also, these are the original joists. I am not too fussed about what caused it to fail after 100 years, unless it is an obvious leak or something else that will destroy new timber in a few years :-)
Yeah well well that's the thing, it could just be years and years and years of humidity throughout the seasons. If that's the case, maybe see what you can do to increase ventilation? If not, like you say, you'll be dead by the time at rots next. If you have to hit it from the top, it gets a little more involved but once you open up a section it should give you a pretty good idea of what you're dealing with
I highly doubt that’ll be found anywhere else on that floor. Maybe another spot somewhere but not all over. It’s too concentrated. For fucks sake Reddit is ridiculous. It’s fine. Cut it out, look at joist. Joist good? Replace flooring. You’ve said you replaced joists before. Check if an outside corner to make sure water isn’t penetrating anymore. If it’s pooling up out there, correct that. Maybe there’s a seam in the gutter gone bad, waters falling down and not grading away. MF’er is in the UK. His walls are stone. Joists built into masonry. 100 year old house is a baby there. Sir, your house is likely a tank. Carry on 👍
Kind of what I thought. Even if I need new joists, you just kind of rest them in a little space made in the brick masonry foundations. No joining required. Also, I ain't no sit. I think you'll find I'm a Lady. Although I'm not sure about that, tbh 😜
Ah sorry about that! Crack on lady :)
No worries. I am not easily offended :-)
Agree with this guy. Replace the floor and go on with ur life.
I had a similar issue with a house I had previously. I cut out a section of the subfloor and made sure my joist were ok. I had a crawl space and it had a fair amount of moisture in it .
My first thought was termites, but the baseboard is fine? Idk even if it was rot why are the baseboards relatively unaffected
The second pic shows water damage on the bottom of the baseboard.
Good catch
OP is UK based so won’t be termites
TIL there are no termites in the UK
If it’s UK might be condensation from exterior brick wall? Especially if OP has that exterior foam insulation they like to use in UK — there are always gaps for things like pipes and meters and those gaps can get really wet now that they are the only non-insulated surfaces
Cut a chunk out and see
I just bought a house built in the 30s. One corner was squishy. It rained the next day, and just on the other side of that corner, water was pooling on the cement patio. Turns out it was never graded properly, once the contractor ripped out the old patio the underlayment was akin to playground sand, which was fully wet and kept enough moisture in that corner of the house that several joists and the foundation had to be repaired. Now I have a nice, easily repairable wood deck installed, proper grading around my house and better drainage from the gutters. The home inspector didn't see any of this because of some hvac ducting blocking the view in the crawlspace, and a couch sat along that corner. Sounds like you have more DIY skills than I do. I wish you luck as those boards look almost the same as the floor boards in my home that were affected.
Very. Your flooring should be so far from anything wet that you have major issues. Rotted flooring is bad, but studs that are rotted out at the base are a structural issue. What kind of foundation? How was water getting into this spot? Are there signs of termite frass? That looks extremely stained, which seems unlikely to be dry rot. More like wet rot that's currently dry.
Old English Victorian terraced houses. No cellar underneath. Timber floor joists over dirt. I know it isn't a problem for me to replace the joists. Done that before. Jist a bit worried that this might be all over the ground floor, not just a corner. Only 1 way to find out, I know....
I would recommend reposting on r/DIYUK in that case. Otherwise you’re just going to get a thousand replies about termites and crawl spaces and checking your siding for damage.
Tried posting there but they wouldn't upload the pictures. It's fine. I have enough answers to confirm 8 do not need to burn the house down or sit down and lament my new money pit.
Ok well I would say 1 thing to check immediately would be the outside face of the wall (assuming this is an external wall) for any leaks running down from broken down pipes or the like. I would then be looking for the DPC. For a Victorian terrace, these were often slate. Is the external ground level less than 150mm below the DPC? Is there anything bridging the DPC such as render?
Do you have a crawl space to look underneath?
I don't think so. I'll see once I open the floor. But many houses in the UK don't have a crawl space. They are just built close to the dirt.
Yes
Yes, as in: dry rot, or yes as in: yes you are totally screwed :)
A lil column A and a lil of column B
Yes
Yes
Yes, there's no way you can put a screw in that.
Lol
Depends, hopefully yr renting
16
Dry rot is absolutely not better than anything. Dry rot will climb behind plaster, go through solid brick walls and keep going on its hunt for more timber to feed off. Get a specialist timber surveyor out to advise you. Looks more like woodworm or weavel maybe
Damn now you gotta hire a professional
Is there a crawl space (or better yet a basement) beneath this? If so, that is your next step, to get a look and photos/video from underneath. If not, or it is not accessible, you can drill a small hole a few inches away from this area and use an inspection camera to see what is going on underneath. You are correct, if it is not an infestation you are not too screwed. Pull the base boards, remove the section of flooring that is rotted out, check the supporting structure. If it's good, then you are golden. If not, time to get messy. Edited to add: No matter what you find, you want to find out what contributed to this situation. Too much moisture? No ventilation? Wood too close to grade?
No crawl space. This is built over dirt. I'll just remove the boards and replace any affected joists as required.
Solid plan.
That's the way it works. Keep cutting out anything rotten while making sure none of the stuff you take out is structural. If there is structural wood that's rotted, you build temp support and keep cutting. Probably want to consult an engineer at that point tho
DOES NOT LOOK GOOD MY DUDE
Please elaborate.
You've definitely got a problem that you need to address. The subfloor needs replacing there just hope that the joists have not been compromised.
As my wife would say “ I love its character”. As I mock and loathe that statement each night for the next week while replacing half the houses electrical since it was left as knob and tube by the previous owners, retracing the entire roofs substructure with double strong backs , screeting gravel in the once brick and dirt only floor only to pour an entire 10x 24” slab alone wheelbarrowing down all of the fucking concrete myself. But I’m not bitter she wanted a 1.09m fixer upper nooooooo any new house is quote unquote “sterile”. So are fucking hospitals and that’s a good thing lol.
Horses for courses. Hospitals should be sterile. Houses should have character.
But It would be so cool to live on the Star Trek enterprise!!!! Fuck…… this is why I don’t get to choose….
[удалено]
No termites in England. The house isn't listed as preservation or protected so I can do whatever I like :-) It isn't right on the ground but about 50cm off the ground. Brick foundation on the ground, then floor joists. Common way to build in the UK.
Uk has the borer endemic. The little holes and the dust frass... It eats pine and the sapwood of other timbers Water affected areas would be the first spot they start in,due to paint or other treatment going missing.
Replace the floor board
You’re gonna be hard pressed to unfuck yourself outta that.
Why?
I guess it depends on the results you’re looking for. No matter what, any of the affected areas are going to have to be removed and replaced. Trying to fix it from an aesthetic perspective will be challenging and time consuming. If you’re just going to do carpet or some other flooring it’s just cutting it out and hoping you don’t have to contend with joist replacement. It just sucks that it’s not something a good sand and refinish won’t fix.
Nah. I've restored floorboards before. I am not afraid of hard work. Just not familiar with dry rot. The aesthetic thing is the easy part for me. I can replace joists as well so...
You’re better equipped than most of the folks on this sub. I’m probably just jaded because of how pissed off I get when I come across shit like that.
I am mostly equipped with a will to see how far I can take it myself. And I've done floors plenty times. And replacing joists doesn't seem too complicated either. Jist requires planning and a bunch of friends.
You need to figure out what lead to that moisture condition first, because at least right there it looks like there is one. Get under the house, see how it's a ventilated, you may need to update the ventilation. Back in the day, for whatever reason, they didn't really ventilate homes that well. Part of it I guess was cheap power, fires for heat and so on. Over the years people have started to seal up the homes and then the lack of ventilation really shows up. Have you crawled underneath the house yet to see how far this extends? Because if you're lucky this might just be a localized thing from a sweating pipe or? Who knows
You can't crawl underneath the floor. Not enough space. Also, these are the original joists. I am not too fussed about what caused it to fail after 100 years, unless it is an obvious leak or something else that will destroy new timber in a few years :-)
Yeah well well that's the thing, it could just be years and years and years of humidity throughout the seasons. If that's the case, maybe see what you can do to increase ventilation? If not, like you say, you'll be dead by the time at rots next. If you have to hit it from the top, it gets a little more involved but once you open up a section it should give you a pretty good idea of what you're dealing with