I recently posted an article about how my house floor had started to rot which we though was wet rot and how i thought my insurance company should be liable, they supplied the builders we had no say in this matter and they came from another town, the advised us on another damp proof course at an extra costs (ombudsman says whilst in our property they are employees or such of insurance and any advise given is that of insurance) anyway we thought the damp proof course had failed and the floor was rotting as a result which has now turned out not to be the case.
we had a damp specialist come to assess the situation who upon falling through the floor said it was the worst case of dry rot he has seen in his life, the total floor downstairs in the living room, hallway and dining room covered in the stuff he estimates at a standard growth rate of 1-2 metres per year this has been growing between 4-8 years (building work was completed less than 4 years ago) He said insurance don't usually cover dry rot but upon him opening a few things up and me showing him pictures of the renovation work we had taken whils tthe job was being done we uncovered a few things.
firstly no joists seem to have been treat at the ends where they have been embedded into the wall, the floor void has ben used as the builders dumping ground and is full of leftover wood, kingspan insulation (which is has under all of the floor) and due to it having what looks like around 150mm kingspan on the top under the boards aswell as all the rubbish and left over stuff below this means air was unable to circulate properly which I have now learnt can create a perfect breeding ground for dry rot.
It also appears that the floor void may not have been cleaned and steralised as required as there is everything you can think of down there including the builders empty bottles from lunch time etc. The damp specialist said that if he were doing the work he would do a risk analysis for condensation with that level of insulation and did I know if they had added in any more ventilation as with all that down there if would be hard to get the cross breeze that is required under the floor (he can't see this himlsef yet as all walls are covered in dry rot and he has not removed the full floor just stuck cameras down there)
I said i'm not too sure but i have some pictures i took which the building work was being completed, i wanted some before and after shots and to document how the work was going to look back on. Whilst looking over these pictures he said your living room flor they have installed seems quite low, when i asked why he thought that and i couldn't tell a difference he said well for a start those airbricks you see there (picture when the new floor was full laid but no plaster/skirting etc) should be under the floor and when they plaster the walls after that/tank them out they will either be blocked or totally covered, if any of the brick is under the floorboards it will be covered by a joist and kingspan and will not be able to do it's job.
We took of the skirting, hacked away a bit of plaster/plasterboard and yup there they are covered in crap and blocked up totally hidden away. He also said there should be a honeycombe wall in the middle between the living and dining room to promote a cross breeze with this level of rubbish and insulation it should be done. it hadn't and the old wall was left in place.
he does think the damp proof course has failed in certain places but not al over, all in all it seems they have done a very sloppy job. I'm am hoping the insurance are going to cover this but he said they don't usually cover dry rot but he would expect them to pay to as those tradesman have done an awful job, he also said he would consider legal action because after the house is repaired it will be harder to sell as you have to disclose this and people are very wary of the term dry rot although he said dry rot is actually rare and needs very specific humidty and dampness to occur and once work is done and all jobs done properly it can't just come back if conditions are not correct for it to do so and proper maintenance plus an insurance backs guarantee should put a lot of peoples mind at ease.
any help much appreciated.