On Tue, 02 Nov 2004 20:12:14 +0000, tez wrote:
On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 11:10:36 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:
tez wrote:
Hi
I have just moved into a house where the kitchen floor is made up of
sandstone slabs which appear to be layed directly on the soil beheath.
The house is on a steep hill so the kitchen is the only room where the
floor is on solid ground - there is a cellar at the front of the house
with floor boards for the hall and lounge.
The stone slabs are uneven and not very attractive. They would be
lovely if it wasnt for 3 cement 'channels' containing pipes
criss-crossing the floor. Most of the pipes are redundant, just a
water and gas pipe running arount the edge of the room to the cooker
and sink.
What I would like advice with is what to do with this floor. I dont
have enough money to lift, level, relay and buy extra stone slabs in
order to have a tidy stone floor.
I would say that you don'tt have enough money not to frankly.
If you do it yourself, its not that expensive.
The previous owner had levelling compound covering two thirds of the
floor and then just a carpet on top. I lifted the carpet to
redecorate teh room and noticed lots of black spots on the underneath
which may be mould. The floor is a little damp in places particularly
towards the wall backing onto the hillside, and the next terrace
above. The plaster is also damp on the wall where next doors kitchen
floor level is about 20 inches higher than my floor. This wall is
going to have the plaster removed and then cement/tanking/lime
plaster/finishing plaster applied to a height of 1.5m
Thats what happens 'on the cheap'
When I first moved in I intended have the floor asphalted which I
thought would level and waterproof the floor at teh same time. THe
asphalter said I had to remove the levelling compound before he could
start. I smashed the compound off the floor with a small hammer 8)
But started to read on teh internet that asphalting a damp floor was
not a good idea and could cause the damp to move towards the walls
instead.
What I would really like to have is a flat floor with carpet or tiles
that breathes. Do all levelling compounds waterproof the floor?
Apparently the tile adhesive is waterproof also so a levelled, tiled
floor would effectively do what the asphalt would have?
I went to a carpet shop to ask about just laying a natural fibre
carpet like a seagrass carpet straight onto the slightly uneven floor.
The carpet man said putting a carpet on a damp floor would cause the
glue in teh carpet to begin to smell.
Please could you give me some advice on what to put on the kitchen
floor? I would probably just leave it as it was with a rug in the
middle of the room if the stone slabs hadnt been so spoilt.
take a pick to it, remove the lot, inject the walls below damp level,
dig down, lay smashed up floor back in, and blind with sand to get it
roughly level, lay plastic DPM all over and up the walls a bit too, lay
2" of polystryene over it, screed the lot to 3" at least (preferably
with UFH in ) and re-plaster lower walls.
Now what was the question?
Thank you all for your advice. I have dropped the idea of putting
levelling compound and tiles over the stone floor.
If I go with levelling the sandstone slabs - would it be better to let
the floor breathe rather than put an impermeable layer beneathe the
stones. One wall is going to be tanked to a certain height as it is a
earth retaining wall on a slope, and I cant remove that earth as the
house above is sitting on it! The other 3 walls have old lime plaster
which has been thinly skimmed to make them level.
What do you think of this approach - raising the slabs, clear the
concrete bits, lay lime mortar on the earth, relay the good slabs on
the lime mortar (?) to level the ground and let it breate and fill
in the space left with new slabs. Would I seal the stones to stop them
staining and let the stones breathe through the mortar or not seal
them at all?
A surveyor suggested digging down a bit and laying the the stone slabs
on concrete pods. Has anyone had experience of this? I think it is
with the intention of having an airspace below the floor.
Should I install air bricks on the wall which leads down to the cellar
(below the kitchen floor level) which would allow the ground to
breate into the cellar (beneath the lounge and hall) and put a couple
of air bricks at the end of the cellar which would allow air to
exchange with outside air, or put airbricks on an external kitchen
wall above the kitchen floor which would allow moisture to escape once
it has come up through the floor?
THank you for your help
T.
Sir
You have to decide, what approach you want to take, there are 2 basic
ones, each cam will argue that theirs is best, bith will work
1) Conservation - The walls "breath"
You follow the same design ideas that the guys that built the place in
the first place did, you get all the same benifits and issues they got
2) Modern - You build a huge tank, and live in it.
You use plastic and concrete and you remove all the issues you have in
(1) above, but do a certain ammount of damage to the bits of (1) that
do actually work, and you fix this with more concrete/plastic.
To a certain extent the finished look can dictate the use of
option(1).
I had this very dilema, and I went for choice 2, becuase I had to do
so much repair work, also it seamed a whole lot easier to DIY it. So
im my house, the floors will come up, I will dig down a bit, and
bottom up lay this stuff :-
radon sump
sand
visqueen radon, (bonded into the wall waterproofing when that goes
up), I am in a radon area.
concrete
insulation
UFH
slate slabs set in concrete / screed.
On the walls, I'll use a plastic product, you "nail" up, and plaster
over with normal plaster. Where the walls have voides, they will be
filled.
While you have the floor up, if you are in a radon zone, fit a radon
sump, it will cost you 20 quid as a DIY fit.
There is very little technical element to this procees, except for the
plaster, and getting the screed right, its all DIYable, if you can get
a good plasterer to help with the finishes.
If you live neer leeds, Pick Quick Service are great for the plastics,
and the prices are the best I found in the whole country.
Rick
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