JustAnotherDave

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not so concerned about insulation if it's tricky to get right. After all, this is just a cupboard area and will only be used for storage. It's awkward because there's almost no space between the DPC on the left wall and the tiles, so it would be difficult to avoid bridging the damp course; the quarry tiles don't extend all the way back, and the outside wall of this space is at the back of the house which has foundations that appear to be considerably higher than the rest of the building. I also can't find any evidence of a DPC along this entire wall, which is presumably why it's been tanked. I thought a suspended floor would help to ventilate the room and the room next door - it's currently at around 78% humidity. I've added another pic to show the wall on the left that adjoins the dining room. The ends of the joists in that room (see pic) have already gone rotten. I imagine I'd have to take the tiles up, excavate and then lay the screed and DPM? That's why I thought a suspended floor would be easier.

Hoping for some advice... I'm renovating a terraced house and having some issues with damp in and around what was probably the pantry (sits between kitchen and back room). When I bought the house, the floor of this room was covered with about 16 layers of lino with a concrete slab underneath. The concrete was poured onto rubble and moisture was coming up at the sides, which was starting to creep up the walls and had rotted out the post for the staircase. I removed the slab to find quarry tiles and what I think is the old settle. I'd like to make the room usable but the quarry tiles are laid on soil, so there's no chance of keeping anything dry that's placed on the floor. I'm thinking about putting in a suspended floor, attached via ledger boards at the sides to hang joists across the width. Does this sound like a viable solution? My plan is to put DPC behind each ledger before attaching to wall but not sure about whether I need to add insulation? Also, the walls are quite uneven - there's a layer of what seems to be slurry/tanking that's a couple of bricks high - can I just pack any voids with wood to make sure ledger is flat? Hopefully the pics help shed some light. A couple of builders have suggested taking the quarry tiles up and laying a new DPM and concrete floor but that seems like a lot more work. Any thoughts much appreciated.

That's the only airbrick on the whole of the back face of the house 🤯. I've just installed another in the wall under the little window in the 2nd pic of my original post, and I've bought 2 more (one is double sized). I'm thinking about putting another one in on left-hand wall and the double brick in the corner where the joist rotted out. I'm a little concerned about removing too many bricks though. Obviously, a large part of the wall was removed for the French doors so removing another 4 bricks close might not be the wisest. What do you think? Many thanks for the advice. I've looked at repair kits for joists - there's some here that look promising: cut the rotten ends of, bolt steel repair plates to the ends of the joists, and the trailing parts of the metal sit in the wall pockets. No need to add additional wood even. Re. the dpc: you might be right. I haven't seen any sight of dpc along that wall but doesn't mean it's not there. The bricks up to about 2 courses above the foundations (or whatever they are) are soaking wet though, and some previous owner has tanked the wall the other side so damp along that wall has definitely been a problem in the past.

Thanks for the insight. I like the idea about not pocketing the joist, I think I'll do that. I see little chance of building a retaining wall at right angles. Unless the owner of the house next door is willing to stump up a contribution to what would, presumably, be a hefty sum for all involved with that, it'll likely be too costly for me. I've replied to someone else above about what a builder has suggested - any thoughts on whether that would help?

No, thankfully. The neighbour's house is rented and the landlord leaves all maintenance to a builder he employs. The builder has been and had a look, and suggested more or less the same. He's going to price up the cost of a new wall, in which case the soil would be removed up to the flagstones on the ground, proper drainage installed etc. To help drainage, He said he could cut a channel and install an 'eco drain' (whatever that is) against the wall of the neighbour's house - perpendicular to the retaining wall.

Hoping someone might offer some help with damp issues, some of which I think might be related to a retaining wall (might also be other things in play). The house is a terraced 3-bed built around 1904. Uncovered damp in the dining room about 6 months ago: ends of floor joists damp and rotting along rear wall (wall with French doors in 2nd picture), damp in pantry (room with small window on left of 2nd picture) and a damp spot in the corner of the room (1st picture and outside view with red arrow). The previous owners had covered the air brick, laid laminate flooring, and the ground level was above the slate damp course. Side note: along the entire wall in left of 2nd picture, I can't find any evidence of damp course (I've investigated either side of the brickwork). Is this common? I can see damp course everywhere else except this wall. Anyway, I've lowered the ground level, taken up laminate, freed air brick, removed some of the black paint from the lower parts of the walls etc. and joists have dried out. However, I'm starting to think the spot in the corner, which rotted out a half joist completely, might be related to the earth that's against the wall of my neighbour's property (4th pic is the same corner pointed to by red arrow in 2nd pic). I live on a hill and their ground level is a couple of feet higher, and the earth is being retained by a failing flagstone 'wall'. The earth all around the house, including what I think are the pile? foundations, seems to be clay - did down and it gets prgressively stickier and more orange - if that's relevant. I'm wondering if anyone has any other ideas? I only uncovered the retaining wall over the weekend as it was completely covered by a fence; I know some work will be needed to repair or replace this in future. My main priority at the moment is fixing the damp so I can make the dining room habitable again...I've had various people tell me that the damp is due to condensation, failed damp course, beetle infestation etc. Some have tried to sell me DPC injections, tanking and the like, which I've resisted as none of these seem to address the cause(s). Happy to give more info/posts more pics if it will help. This is slowly driving me insane!

Hi all, I've beeing casually browsing as a guest for about a year; currently renovating an Edwardian house in Smethwick, West Mids (a stone's throw from Birmingham). I'm still a fairly amateur DIYer but learned a lot from other people's posts. It's nice to join - hope I can share some ideas and keep learning.