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My house is a real bodge... the water outside comes in through a 20mm MDPE pipe into a 20-15mm brass stopcock (tap type) ... and the compression joint on the 20mm is leaking... it's stuffed with PTFE tape and still leaking (replacement brass stopcock on the way) ...
Lots of places you can comment... from plumbing to structural to mould!
Time on my hands and most tools ... but supply is a real pain and really want to get a floor...
Our pressure is stupidly high (4.5 bar in a dorma bungalow) which probably doesn't help
Our water is very hard.. not measured but way harder than anywhere else I've lived including central London/Kent.
Room is negative pressure with a leaf blower and plastic sheeting ... and I've got N95 filters in the masks. [not unlimited and not sure how long to use in the current supply]
I'd like to put the floor in ASAP.... the stopcock can be accessed later (seperate old larder/boiler etc) and all underfloor vents are cleared though thought I'd make a new one for an extractor fan and mount externally later. The cold water pipe comes in UNDER the damp course (1920's slate layer) then goes through it ... at the other (larder/boiler) side it has sodden the joists (4x2) which then started to rot but seems worse going through the wall in the other direction...
Q1 ...what is the best/reliable stopcock combo? I could step down to 15mm then stopcock or use a different type.
Q2 ... pulled up the floor in the adjacent room and lots of mould ... mostly white with some green and yellow (best I can tell some form of Aspergillus and possibly a Penicillin) either way as I had a load of spirit vinegar I tried first and it seems very effective... 12% H2O2 on order + Borax + some really nasty industrial ammonium salt based killer (Sika Mould Buster)
Anyway.... I kept a test strip of flooring and sprayed with spirit vinegar ... and the mould has shrunk up... (it's also dried and had UV so might also play a part)
How much should I persist if I assume the place will be dry after ???
Q3 - I'm unsure if a white/hard substance is part of the mould or limescale... I'd be more certain it was limescale if it wasn't ABOVE the leaky stop cock as well but much as I can pop some in acid and see what happens I thought if it was some excretion from mould it could well just be CaCO3 based anyway...
Never heard of a similar thing but online info all seems a bit misleading???
Q4 - The previous work left loads of "crap" under the floor... not much is organic but they just seem to have used it for disposal of bits of brick, tile... etc. other than the corner near the drip ...
how much should/must I remove? Are we talking vacuum clean or brush or don't bother ???
Q5 .. kitchen with tiled floor is next to boiler room.... can I just dry out joists.. replacement means taking up tiles and underfloor heating. If I can cut in a sound area thought I could replace the 2x4 on the other side prior to a wall support and firmly bolt/screw a section???
Update: Leak part temporarily fixed. Whoever fitted the stopcock had chipped the olive luckily I had 1x 20mm olive in the spares bin. I also had a 15mm stop valve so added that after so when I get to the permanent solution I don't need to drain the water again.
Now that's temporarily fixed I can pull up the floorboards in the larder/boiler room and see how far the damp/water goes and hope it's not under the tiles/heated floor.