lifted laminate and i have a Damp concrete subfloor

Ok.

Damp cpmpany came around this afternoon.

He said (ill try to remember and get it right)

I have a DPC for the brickwork walls.

I dont have a DPM under the concrete slab in the main house (the kitchen extension will have as it was mandatory when it was retro built)

My DPM was these tiles that were bitumnned/black jacked to the floor.

These tiles have failed as some are missing/ some broken/ the bitumen broken down, meaning the DPM has failed, hence allowing the water through.
He also saw hairline cracks in the top layer of screed in places.

Then the lamiante has trapped this water in creating the sweat affect

Garden is not at fault - digging a soakaway will help very little as the earth under the house carries moisture regardless.

He suggested:

Lifting the laminate/underlay and scrape the tiles up

Leave for a week or 2 to dry out, aided with dehumidifiers.

Then layer 1 coat 3m of arditex NA over the bitumen as that stuff will bond with the bitumen.

Then layer 1 coat of ardex DPM 1C

Then layer another 3m coat of arditex NA

Then my problems will be gone.


So most of it is what we already knew, but he just confirmed it.

Is this Ardex stuff the stuff to use in your guys opionion? I see alot of reference to F-Ball?

Also he said the polyeurethane resin i have access too will do just a good as a job laid on top of an epxoy resin.
I forgot to ask though if this epoxy resin stuff can be painted straight over the bitumen??

 

Your Dpm has failed mate, this wont work you need to do as I stated in earlier post, either rip up Crete and redo or asphalt once you've removed all traces of bitumen. Sorry I was right mate but it's gonna cost. Plus epoxy based surface membranes can't be used over rising damp, they do state this on their specs, plus require 2 coats not 1.

 

Isn't that what I said in the beginning. Why won't it work rick?

 

Surface membranes cant be used over rising damp

 

It can

 

He didnt test, he just looked around and said houses of this period only had brick dpc put in.
They used the bitumen and tiles as a dpm.

It is a thin layer of bitumen, then im sure its concrete underneath.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c197/thomo123/20120719_215738.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c197/thomo123/20120719_215748.jpg

The tiles lifted with no fight at all, lifted most of ghem by hand.

They were wet 3/4 of the floor, but bone dry in final 1/4 down at the end where that airbrick is.

I wonder if i have a suspended concrete floor and the back vent was covered up whrn the kitchen extrnsion was built?

Now im confused though, some say a surface dpm will do the job, others say the floor has to come up..

I realise digging the floor out is the letter of the book correct way to do it, but that canf always be the most practacke way?

Is a surface dpm in my case going to solve my issue?

 

Leave the floor a month mate if you can then do a damp test. What area are you in?

 

Leave naturally, or keep dehumidifiers on?

I am in worcestershire.

 

What about laying down a isolator sheet?

 

I would Leave them on yeah.

 

What is 1 of these please?

 

Presumably every method bar digging it up and relaying is masking the issue?

Digging up is not a viable option for me, either practically or financially. :-(

 

Yeah I agree long term there is a problem with the subfloor best sort it out. The last laminate floor that I see like yours we decided to dig out the floor and found there was a waste pipe leaking below the screed. That was after the insurance company had been round and said there was no leak it was a damp problem.

 

I can live with the no guarentee to be fair, for yhe simple fact that it csnt get any worse than it is now really (floor ruined)

That lasy bit tho, it appears i dont have a functioning dpm. So i cant use ardex na?

What do they do in old houses that dont have a dpm at all?

 

Maybe ill call ardex in the morning and see what they say about bonding to a damo concrete floor covered in a thin klayer of bitumen (or is it asphalt, as it smells like tar in here since lifying yhe tiles up.

 

Fball isolator sheet, google it. I've used it under floors that are damp and have caused vinyls to bubble but not used it over a subfloor as wet as yours. I think you still need to have a reading below 92rh to use it.