Rotten skirting board

S

SakisP

Guest
While fixing a dampness problem in my bathroom, I discovered (some months afterwards, actually!) that the skirting board at the bottom of the wall (behind which the side of the bath with the taps lies) is brittle and obviously rotten. I managed to vacuum-clean as much as possible, but now there's this "gentle" smell coming from there and "greeting" me whenever I come back home.

Would it be advisable to find a suitable filler for the gap that's left there, or is it necessary to replace the specific board? Any alternatives?

Your feedback would be appreciated!
 
Remove the rotten board, cutting back until sound wood is reached. Try and get a matching board (maybe from behind a wardrobe in the house, where it won;t be missed?) and splice it in. I'd leave the board off for a few days and give the wall a chance to dry out.
 

I'm a bit confused...are you saying the board is in behind the end of the bath with the taps..in that case is ti a problem as that skirting would usually not be visible?
And are you sure you have fixed the underlyign cause of what made the wood rot in the first place?
 

No, the rot is on the other side of the wall - obviously, it happened underneath the wall, where the water that was leaking on the bath side of the wall affected the skirting through the bottom of the wall...

So a filler is out of the question? It's already quite dry actually. I mean, I had fixed this slow leak some months ago, but never noticed the skirting board problem because I was using that side of the wall as support for a show cabinet
 
Tagging on to this thread as I too have a similar problem albiet on a larger scale. Surely main concern is the 'gentle' smell and the best way to get rid of that. Correct me if I'm wrong but does that emanate mainly from the rotten wood?? If this is the case, filler is not going to rectify the problem and as Carpenter suggests, getting rid of all of the rotten wood would alleviate the smell. For aestethic purposes, additional wood or other covering can than be installed.

I have an old stone cottage which may be suscetible to rising damp but to date has caused no problems. However on the interior of one external wall, there is half-height cladding in place which I suspect is rotting on the inside. A 'gentle smell' being the main giveaway..there is a gap between the skirting and floor. I'm guessing all I can do is pull the cladding away...treat whatever is behind there as best I can and let the wall dry out. I tried the filler approach with no joy. Then I can put new cladding on as it sort of looked well in the first instance!

Any comments on this? Am I right in saying the smell is probably coming from the wood than the external wall???? There is no problem on other external walls on the same side of the cottage with no cladding.

Thx,

C71
 
What you are saying makes sense. The wood panelling is trapping moisture laden air behind it (like a wardrobe on a north facing wall). This will obviously provide an ideal environment for fungal organisms to thrive, feeding on the wood from the inside out. If you do remove this panelling and replace it the whole process will start again. If you want to use panelling again design this in such a way as to allow air to circulate behind it and this will allow moisture to disperse, allowing your old walls to breathe and your panelling will last!

You could incorporate decorative ventilation grilles etc into the design to allow this to happen
 
Carpenter,


You are an absolute star! Was hoping that you would respond as you seem to very knowledgeable on the whole DIY scene...but I stopped short of directing the question towards you! I know it has been said before but your tips are becoming invaluable and are much appreciated.

Regards,

C71.
 
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