Mr & Mrs Brown problems of dampness and timber decay
Sub-floor timbers in contact with damp walls often cause the onset of Wet Rot and Dry Rot, especially if the timbers are not protected by damp proof membrane and properly ventilated. Our thorough inspection revealed that the cause of timber decay was Wet Rot due to a high moisture content as the timbers were not protected by DPM and all of the existing air bricks were found to be blocked by rubble, debris and cobwebs. Sub-floor timbers in the kitchen were also found to be significantly decayed although the cause of this problem was due to plumbing leaks.
We quickly provided Mr & Mrs Brown with a full written report and quotation and they phoned us the next day to accept our recommendations and quotation, they asked if there was any possibility that the works could be carried out before Christmas and we promised that we would do our best.
Luckily the occupants had family living nearby who they stayed with during the day whilst we carried out the works over the following two weeks.
As the sub-floor timbers were in a dangerous state we cut out all decayed timber back to sound timber and renewed the decayed timber with new treated timbers treated with Boron, we cleaned out all of the airbricks in the affected areas as per our quote and installed an additional eight air-bricks around the property free of charge which will significantly reduce the risk of further timber decay occurring in the future. We then completed the damp-proofing works by removing the existing wall plaster back to the brickwork to 300mm above the last point of rising dampness, installed our silicone damp-proof course and re-plastered the walls incorporating our tanking membrane system. The occupants asked us if we could renew their old kitchen units and we supplied them with a beautiful kitchen from Magnet at cost price and fitted it for them also at cost.
On 23rd of December the Brown’s returned to their property late in the evening to find us re-fitting the last of the skirting boards and applying the finishing touches to the job which they were “over the moon with”.