Insulating Floors

L

Louie81

Guest
I am currently in the process of renovating a sitting room in a very old house. When I removed the carpet I discovered a solid wooden floor that I would like to keep…..however there is no foundation floor in this room and damp is rising up through the floor.
By the looks of it wooden joices have been place on the ground and the solid floor on top of them.
To get to the point I would like to know if there is any way of insulating under this floor with the minimum of disruption?
 
Where is the damp rising up to? There would be no easy way to insulate without ripping up the floorboards
 
The damp is seems to be rising up the walls and there was a 'musty' smell once I lifted the carpet. I thought as much!
Have you heard anything about spray insulation? I was thinking along the lines of the insulation used on cavity walls or in attics....not sure if that would be suitable though? A couple of boards could be lifted and the insulation sprayed in then??
 
If the joists are sitting on the ground, insullation around them will not eliminate the problem. They'll have to be taken out of contact with the ground by excavation or other means.
Leo
 
As always it's hard to comment on old build situations without actually see the situation but here's my tuppence worth:

Most likely your floors are suspended timber floors, built off a tassel wall with the underfloor void vented to the open air via the standard airbricks you see around the plinth. In these situations the ventilation tends to be inadequate due to inadequate or poorly located vents or obstruction of the vents. Often times you'll find the subfloor has an indequate finish (maybe no concrete- just soil or poor fill) and may be acting as a sump, i.e its level being lower than the surrounding ground level. I would recommend cutting an access point in the floor to see what's going on underneath.
 
Thanks for the help.
I'll have to spend the weekend doing further investigation, but what you've just said carpenter makes sense as the wooden floor is at the outside ground level which would mean the soil floor is lower than ground level.....I've also noticed some air vents on on the outside of the house that are at ground level and a little below!
Would this mean that I'm back to plan A of lifting the wooden floor and pouring a concrete floor?
 
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