Drying soused joists (and dodgy plumbing photos)

[mike]

A mate found some dampness in the house he's just bought. Over the weekend he heard hissing water, lifted the floorboards and found this:

The white T on the blue pipe hadn't been tightened and was leaking vigorous ly (he managed to tighten that up and stop the leak) and the Speedfit T is under such tension that pressing it down causes it to weep, so that needs s orting (?along with most other things in the house. The people he bought from fancied themselves as 'developers'.)

Anyway he now has some saturated joists and a bad smell of damp and is wond ering how best to dry them out and avoid wet/dry rot.

He left the floorboards up on Saturday (which made for some chilly temperat ures - there's apparently plenty of cross-ventilation through the air brick s) but had to put them down again yesterday when he had visitors. Lifting them today, there was quite a pong. The subfloor (it's a 1900s house) is b are soil.

So, is there anything to be done to help the joists dry quicker or more eff iciently? He thought putting a small electric fan heater down there might have some minor benefit. Suggestions from the panel, please.

[harryagain]

The white T on the blue pipe hadn't been tightened and was leaking vigorously (he managed to tighten that up and stop the leak) and the Speedfit T is under such tension that pressing it down causes it to weep, so that needs sorting (along with most other things in the house. The people he bought from fancied themselves as 'developers'.)

Anyway he now has some saturated joists and a bad smell of damp and is wondering how best to dry them out and avoid wet/dry rot.

He left the floorboards up on Saturday (which made for some chilly temperatures - there's apparently plenty of cross-ventilation through the air bricks) but had to put them down again yesterday when he had visitors. Lifting them today, there was quite a pong. The subfloor (it's a 1900s house) is bare soil.

So, is there anything to be done to help the joists dry quicker or more efficiently? He thought putting a small electric fan heater down there might have some minor benefit. Suggestions from the panel, please.

Dehumidifier. Buy or hire. The place needs to be closed off (and if possible a bit of heat.) Fan heaters good. Make sure joists can't deform (floorboards attached prevents this.) Lift carpets and support so air gets beneath (or throw out).

While the dehumidifier is runing, fans to move the air about.

[mike]

You mean block up the air bricks temporarily? There's not room to get a de humidifier under the floorboards and into the shallow void.

And this is in a hallway in a three-storey house. I understand what you're saying but I don't see how you could close off an area small enough for th e dehumidifier to be effective. Wouldn't it be like trying to cool the room by leaving your fridge door open?

[John Rumm]

As long as the source of water has been stopped and there is already ventilation under there, I would just leave it to dry out naturally over time. If you try to speed it up (heat, dehumidifying etc), then you may just encourage shrinkage and warping.

[stuart noble]

+1

[Dave Liquorice]

Does he think it was only leaking from when he heard the hissing or is this a long standing one?

As you say there is a good draft I'd not bother with a fan heater or dehumidifier. I'd let the ample natural ventilation deal with it with the boards up or at least one up to limit the cooling effect on the house. It'll take weeks for the timbers to dry if its been a long standing leak but at least with a soil sub-floor most of the water will have drained away. B-)