Hello, I would like to ask for some advice from the flooring experts on this forum. In April this year I moved into a basement flat and had a Karndean Van Gogh floor fitted in by a handyman who had I hired via a cousin. He put down a flexible fibre reinforced screed to level the concrete floor before fitting in the vinyl planks. Within two months, numerous planks started lifting in the kitchen and now planks are also lifting in the bathroom and hallway. The handyman disappeared when I told him about the problems (I found out that his business wasn't even officially registered in the UK) so I'm at a loss what to do next. I'm renting the property, but I'm responsible for the flooring myself and I don't have insurance that covers this damage. The first thing that I need to figure out is what is actually causing the problems, it looks like the concrete floor underneath the screed layer is damp in places and/or did not bond properly with the screed. I have attached two pictures of the lifting/bubbling planks in the kitchen for reference. Thank you very much.
It’s likely damp. He should of done a moisture test? and the flexible screed will all be ruined as it’s not moisture tolerant. How old is the building? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Looking at the pics it’s damp. He should of put a liquid dpm down like Ardex DPM1c before the smoothing compound
Thank you very much for your reply, I agree with your assessment that the underlying cause is likely damp. Your comments made me angy at the handyman, as he told me that the (more expensive) flexible screed would be good for a damp environment!. My basement flat is part of a Victorian terraced house. I'm not exactly sure how old it is, but it was likely constructed between 1860-1900. Based on your remarks, do you think the entire floor will need to come out and a new screed will need to be put in or is there a way I could repair the damage to the screed/planks?
Thank you kindly for your reply. I did pay the handyman extra to put a liquid DPM down which he said he did, but whether he actually did it or not, it was clearly not sufficient...
Does not look like he has used a dpm and if he has, it doesnt look like the correct one! It all needs removing and re installing correctly. You may be able to lift out the damaged areas, re screed and re lay new tiles but there would be no guarantee on it staying down. have you had any water damage in the area? Thats the only other thing that will cause a floor to lift like that. Lots of water trapped under the flooring and levelling compound
There was indeed a lot of water trapped under the old vinyl floors in the kitchen and bathroom when I moved in, but it was not clear where that had come from as there were no visible pipes nearby. After these old floors had been removed, the concrete had about 10 days to dry out before the screed layer was put down and the screed was then hardened out with electrical drum heaters for two weeks before the Karndean tiles were installed. I'm afraid however that either the water that had been in the floors didn't completely dry up, or even worse: that there are still active leaks. I will try to repair the damaged areas and see if the tiles stay down, but if not, I will follow your advice and have the entire floor redone (sigh). Thank you so much for your help!
Dont waste your time repairing, get it all ripped out else you'll be chasing further areas that will blow eventually so your nightmare will go on and on.
You're spot on. He prioritised a job for another client and then had to rush to finish my flooring before my moving in date. And no, he did not put a visqueen sheet between the concrete and screed.
