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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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Laying Concrete Flooring
I have just bought a house and a part of it has an earth floor. I
have plans to change it in to a garage or possibly a liveable area. I am keen to learn a bit of DIY and my first job would be to lay a solid floor where the earth currently is. I have never done any work with concrete before and would be grateful of any advice on the best way of doing things. How deep would I have to dig? What are the best ways to waterproof the floor? The walls are damp and someone has suggested laying a ventilated floor, does anyone have any advice about this? |
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Laying Concrete Flooring
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Laying Concrete Flooring
"John" wrote in message ... I have just bought a house and a part of it has an earth floor. I have plans to change it in to a garage or possibly a liveable area. I am keen to learn a bit of DIY and my first job would be to lay a solid floor where the earth currently is. I have never done any work with concrete before and would be grateful of any advice on the best way of doing things. How deep would I have to dig? What are the best ways to waterproof the floor? The walls are damp and someone has suggested laying a ventilated floor, does anyone have any advice about this? Have a read through this site: http://www.pavingexpert.com/formwk01.htm The links at the bottom of the page go through the different types of concrete and things. |
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Laying Concrete Flooring
In article ,
Steve North wrote: (John) wrote in message m... I have just bought a house and a part of it has an earth floor. I have plans to change it in to a garage or possibly a liveable area. I am keen to learn a bit of DIY and my first job would be to lay a solid floor where the earth currently is. I have never done any work with concrete before and would be grateful of any advice on the best way of doing things. How deep would I have to dig? What are the best ways to waterproof the floor? The walls are damp and someone has suggested laying a ventilated floor, does anyone have any advice about this? Just finished a helping a friend replace his tile on soil floor and am in the process of doing my own. 1. removed tiles etc and dug down 8" - 2" for sand, 2" polystyrene, 4" concrete. 2. did not use hardcore since the floor was old and compacted 3. ordered builders sand, poly and damp proof membrane (DPM, sometimes called visqueen) of 1200 gauge from a builders merchant. Phone arounf for the best price. 4. put down sand (it's to stop DPM from being punctured) and then DPM. Can be tricky if you have chimney breasts etc. Make sure sand is flat by draging planks around. 5. put down 2" thick poly and also 1" around the edges for an expansion gap. 6. put in 2 x 4"'s with their tops at the final floor level. These will act as levels. 7. order readymix concrete. I've priced the materials for mixing my own and it was the same as readymix, and didn't included mixer hire. 8. I've taken the glass out of a double glazed window. For me this involved: a) remove rubber strips from around edge of glass inside b) remove plastic bits outside which have a thinner rubber strip attached - 1 at top and bottom and 2 at the sides - easy. This will allow the mixer to poke it's shute through the window. These go up to 8', or perhaps longer with extensions if available. 9. my friend made a shoot out of an old door (nice slippy painted surface) and some planks for te sides. He needed this since the mix is quite stiff and had to move it to a back room he was also doing. I'm going to borrow it for the single room I'm as it worked very well and saved a lot of raking. 10. get as many helpers as possible., all in rubber boots and wearing rubber gloves - shorts and tshirts are a good idea as you may "glow" when spreading the concrete. 11. when it arrives spread it using garden rakes and then tamp it using the levels and te edge of a plank. You may want to put some extra concrete into buckets for filling in depressions, rather thhan shovelling it around (it's heavy). I think you have 20-30 mins of the drivers time so don't let him rush you. He'll probably want to dump all of the concrete out so get your voulmes right. 12. trowel it smooth - after 1 hour or a few hours, depending on where the advice comes from. We waited about 1 hour. 13. to economise we are just using concrete. To get the best result you may want to add 2" of cement (and dig a further 2"). My friends floor looks ok and he's only putting tiles down. I'm goging to do te same but I'm putting laminate floor down so will keep my toes crossed in addition to my fingers. 14. if it's below te wanted level you can always add a self levelling compound or some cement. Good luck, it's not rocket science. Neil |
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Laying Concrete Flooring
"John" wrote in message ... I have just bought a house and a part of it has an earth floor. I have plans to change it in to a garage or possibly a liveable area. I am keen to learn a bit of DIY and my first job would be to lay a solid floor where the earth currently is. I have never done any work with concrete before and would be grateful of any advice on the best way of doing things. How deep would I have to dig? What are the best ways to waterproof the floor? The walls are damp and someone has suggested laying a ventilated floor, does anyone have any advice about this? The job is simple enough - maybe hardwork if you are not used to this sort of thing - but not rocket science. The finished result you want is: hardcore/blinding/dpm/insulation/concrete. If the ground is really hard and been down decades you only need dig out enough to get the top of concrete at the finished floor level required - if you have a damp course in the walls this should be the finished level - but with earth floors I doubt that. If you are using as a garage then no need for insulation, Simple sequence - dig out to required depth compact with wacker plate if required .... and definitely if any hardcore is imported. blind the finish with sand ... no big deal on thickness - just enough to ensure DPM can't be punctured by stones lay DPM (visqueen) lay 50mm polyurethane insulation (or not if a garage) lay 100mm concrete .. DPM should fold up the walls so it covers sides of slab - temporary tack up with battens. Work out volume of concrete needed, if up to a m3 then this is an easy job with a small cement mixer - greater than that then buy in Readymix .... if less than 6m3, then a minimix company will be much cheaper - you pay for airspace if less than 6m3 A good enough gp mix if mixing yourself would be 5:1 of all-in ballast and cement, don't mix it to wet to prevent water separating out. If buying in ask supplier for a gen mix, they will supply right mix for the job. Rick |
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Laying Concrete Flooring
I have just bought a house and a part of it has an earth floor. I
have plans to change it in to a garage or possibly a liveable area. I am keen to learn a bit of DIY and my first job would be to lay a solid floor where the earth currently is. I have never done any work with concrete before and would be grateful of any advice on the best way of doing things. How deep would I have to dig? What are the best ways to waterproof the floor? The walls are damp and someone has suggested laying a ventilated floor, does anyone have any advice about this? I'm not saying DONT lay a concrete floor, but you should be aware of the implications. There are two building techniques, the old one which was used in your house amd which relied on the building materials being breatheable, so any damp which got in on a wet day could evaporate out on a dry day. That system worked very well for hundreds of years until carpets became common. Then was invented the new building technique which has been used for the last hundred or so years and relies on impermeable surfaces like damp proof courses to stop water getting into the building structure at all. That system works very well too. The problems come when you do a mix and match of the two and if you have damp walls then I suspect that the old breatheable limewash finish has been covered with a new impermeable emulsion paint, which traps moisture until it breaks out in damp and desperation. A concrete floor will not allow any moisture out, so any water will move sideways to the nearest place it can escape, which might be your already damp wall. Hence the infamous rising damp. So before concreting the floor think about where any water will go when you do. It would probably be a good idea to damp proof the walls now when they have had a good drying summer. Alternatively, you could go the traditional route which has the advantage of being eco friendly and less graft for you - which is to leave the floor breatheable. It doesn't have to remain as earth. Pammet tiles bedded in weak lime mortar (which is breatheable) would be fine too. Then strip impermeable layers off the wall, limewash them and relax with damp problems solved. A purist, me. Or lazy. Anna -- ~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Pargeting, decorative and traditional / ^^ \// lime plasterwork |______| www.kettlenet.co.uk 07976 649862 |
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