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lynx
@NotThamesWater
More damp fun.
tl;dr found more damp, need to replace bits of the floor.
Took up some (engineered wood) floorboards, pulled.off the skirting, and the chipboard below is wet. There's a little mould here and there, but no rot (that I can see so far).
It looks as though someone in the past has "fixed" the damp with chemical injections and there's a waterproof membrane where the chimney breast used to be.
Combine that with the impermeable cement render on the outside, and the bricks are also wet.
One small hole in the chipboard later, and the gap between the wall and sill plate is full of rubble, sand and other crap, bridging between wall and joists (the chipboard is sitting against the brick in places).
The chipboard itself is up against the walls in places too - probably not disastrous by itself, but when combined with standing water from the cement and tile paving outside, which is (or was, until I dug it up) above the floor level, it's just another way for damp to make it's way inside.
The plan to remedy then:
Rip a 2ft wide strip off the chipboard, clear out the debris behind the sill, chuck a membrane between the sill and joists, the let it all dry for a month or two.
All this will be behind a temporary wall made of 2x2 and protective sheeting, so that we can continue to use the room.
Once it's dry, put some more chipboard down, remove the sheeting, and live with it over next winter, to see if the problem is fixed.
If it's fixed - out the temporary wall back up, strip the crappy plaster, replaster in lime, let it dry, then put the boards back (and finally take the temporary sheetvwall down).
If it's not fixed - back to the drawing board.