Phil L coughed up some electrons that declared:
I hate to say I told you so, but I did, on several occasions that this
floor was nothing but a bodge waiting to go wrong and it has, and it will
again and it has already cost more than a new floor, with insulation, and
now you are going to throw even more money at it for a floor scrabbler
(which don't work BTW) and yet another lot of screed that will also crack
up.
Eh? I said the underlying screed was sound. It's just bent where the hack
merchants in the 70's couldn't be bothered to get it level during a garage
conversion.
Ever heard the phrase 'bite the bullet'?
Erm - I've just laid 10m2 of screed with one other person. That's not
something I want to make a habit of in terms of materials alone - it was
bloody hard work, and I still had to level it off because dry screeding is
one of those things I'm never going to really get the hang of. OTOH I *am*
satisfied that is never going to go wrong structurally and it's didn't
actually cost that much - but the old screed was off for other reasons
anyway.
Even with what's been spent to date on the front room, I don't think you'd
get a new concrete sub base (lower to accommodate insulation), insulation
and screed! The skip and the materials would exceed the spend to date by
miles and I dread to imagine what the labour would be.
No, what I should have done is done the bloody thing myself (with help as
needs be) in the first place. My mistake was subbing it out. Mostly because
I actually bother to read the data sheet and do what the product says and I
can spot it when the builder's merchant is talking ********.
Scrabblers work (slightly) on clean, soft sand/cement screed, but even
then they take days to get anything close to a few mm off, with this
bituminous layer, you are wasting your time and money as the grinding
stones will clog up within seconds.
Yes, I have concluded that grinding stones aren't the answer. I need
something with teeth that performs more of a scratching action. All I need
to scratch through to the sand and I'll have something to get a bond to.
My scutch comb chisel does what is required, but on a pitifully small scale.
Hire shop owners will tell you anything you want to hear, but you don't
get your money back an hour later when you drag the piece of crap back
through his door.
That's exactly why I'm trying to get a handle on the types of available
machinery
Possibly something with something like this on:
http://www.495rental.com/images/scarifier_wheel5.jpg
or maybe
http://www.495rental.com/images/floor_carbide5.jpg
Not these:
http://www.495rental.com/images/floor_stones5.jpg
They, as you say, would clog like bitches in seconds.
Cheers
Tim