Pollyanna

All my floors are bare at the moment after a flood caused a lot of damage about 7 months ago. The house has been empty, with exposed rafters and I have found signs that there have been mice about (mouse droppings in my bed would you believe!). Some damaged boards were replaced and next step is getting the carpets down BUT, I am a bit concerned about the number of holes that there are which are of ample size for mice and probably big spiders to get through! These mostly occur around the edges of rooms, for example behind the radiator pipes and between old boards under the stud walls (which obviously could not be lifted) and the new boards. I'd like to try and get those filled before the carpets come. Any suggestions as to what to use and how I might go about this please?

This is my own house, which was flooded by a burst pipe. That's all sorted now. OK, that makes sense. And as long as there's no water underneath there will be no condensation going forward so no further problems should arise?

Work began on my house this week and they started looking at the floors yesterday. They say that one section of chipboard in the worst affected part of the house (inner hallway) had black mould on the underside, but the rest looks OK. I asked a question about the sections of flooring underneath the partition walls on all sides of this hallway, but they say they can't remove these sections of the floor as (obviously) they're holding the walls up. I get that, but what if there is mould under there? What would the consequences be of not removing it?

Got a damp meter and have been playing with it. The wall with the tidemark gives 17.7 above the skirting, 13.5 about a meter above, and 10.3 about 2 meters above. The adjacent wall gives 20.0 above the skirting, 4.0 about a meter up, and 9.0 about 2 meters above. The floor reads between 15.0 and 20.0 along the wall with the tide mark. I can't get the carpet back any further to check further out, but once partner comes home we can do that if need be.

Hi I will get one ordered up and come back to you in due course. Please bear with, and thanks for all your help so far!

I believe that cavity wall insulation was installed several years ago.

Hi. I've tried running the hose as you suggested, and the soakaway seems to be holding its own BUT, if you look at that slab to the left of the drain it slopes downwards towards it, so the water running down those slabs past the drain seems to just pool in that area which is right next to the wall where the stain is.

No, don't think so.

That sounds logical, we'll have a look at it tomorrow and see what we can find out. Thanks.

Is this a soak-away, it's just in front of the garage door? I scratched off a wee bit of the gravel in a couple of places and it just seems to be a very thin layer of chips laid on top of hard compacted earth. The water from the roof runs down that drain pipe in the corner and as far as we know, that's working fine (not blocked).

Not as far as we know.

OK I took a photo of the garage from the highest point of the drive, one from the side so you can hopefully get an idea of the slope, and one of the top of the drive from down by the garage which shows the busy four lane road that's outside the house. Hope this is helpful.

I thought the air brick looked low too. The drive slopes down from the garden to the house and partner says the integral garage (which is adjacent to this bedroom) gets flooded if it's very heavy rain. Here are the pics.

Sorry, struggling with the ins and outs of the forum. Here is the other photo which I have now managed to resize.

Oops.

I'm staying at my partner's house while my own is being reinstated after flooding. We found this behind the furniture in the corner of my bedroom when we were spring cleaning yesterday. Could anyone help me identify what's going on here and how it can be fixed? The walls are on the outside corner of the house.

Ideal Logic + Heat 30.

Thanks, will find out how and do it next time I'm there.

2 people, 2 bathrooms, no solar or plans to do so, yes forever home.

After having my house flooded due to a burst pipe in the loft of my bungalow, I am considering making some changes re my heating system. I want to replace the boiler as I have had nothing but problems with the one I have had for approx 8 years. I'd also like to get all of the water tank, pipes etc out of my loft as I will always live in dread of the same thing happening again. A combi boiler has been suggested, but I have some reservations. 1) My bungalow is L-shaped. The existing boiler is in an unheated garage at the furthest corner of one extreme of the L, and my bathroom and ensuite are in the other L along with the hot water cylinder and header tank etc. So there are quite long pipe runs. My showers are presently powered by a pump in the airing cupboard and I understand that if I went for a combi set-up, the shower pump would disappear along with all the other gubbins of the old system and the hot water would come to the showers directly from the boiler. Would this not affect the pressure I could potentially get? The plumber I've spoken to says that I should probably find that the pressure is better but I find it hard to understand how that can be so? I'd be interested to hear your opinions.

Yes, exactly that. Not sure if the water in the enclosed space above the concrete will dry itself out though, as explained above.

Yes, I definitely want it looked into. I told the insurers about the issue re water under the boards but they didn't seem to take it seriously or amend their scope to take account of it. After much persuasion, they agreed to allow for a chartered building surveyor to come in and have a look, but the one that was recommended to me has been giving me the brush-off and has told me to find someone else, so I'm back to square one.

House insurance company only seems interested in a bish, bash, bosh approach ie replace a few of the floor panels and move on.