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Damp concrete floor


rimfire4969
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After a bit of advice:

Our house is having some new carpet, lifting the old one which has been down about 9 years we have a damp area. The underlay has broken down and the carpet grippers rotted to powder. This part of the house dates back to about 1750 and it is only part of a large room 7 metres x 5 metres that has the issue. I have googled and found various things but first hand advise is usually better than google. Is there a paint maybe resin based they I can put on the floor to act as a damp barrier. I am not going to dig up the floor and relay it. 

Any help much appreciated. 

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I have a part of the house (part of the hall) where there is a flagstone floor (circa 1840).  It regularly suffers from damp and I have had it investigated as it is a nuisance rather than a problem.  The conclusions were interesting.

  • It is not water from a pipe (there are none).
  • It is not 'rising' damp because it is on an area where there are cellars under (The floor part is rather over a foot thick) - and is an impervious stone (slate like).
  • It is caused by condensation.  The 'problem' is simply that it is a very large 'thermal mass' and is often cooler than the surrounding air.  On warm humid days in spring it can get reall quite wet.

Various solutions have been tried with various paint/compounds before it was fully investigated - all with little effect.  There is no simple answer, the easiest solution being to leave it as stone flags and try to control the humidity by ventilating on dry days.  I have do doubt that years ago when there were 8 open fireplaces in the house (all used) and draughts that came high up the Beaufort scale - it wasn't really a problem.  Now days with a house largely draught proofed and insulated, and central heating rather than open fires, it can be a nuisance ........ but there is no cheap practical solution that I know of.  Various solutions were proposed which involved re- flooring, an insulated skin, heated underneath etc are all impractically expensive (not least because that part of the floor braces various walls and is in effect structural.

Could yours be condensation on a part of the floor that is cold?

If it  is from below - and you 'seal it in' - it may reappear elsewhere.

 

Edited by JohnfromUK
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I had a similar situation in a concrete floor in an inter war house. The floor was core tested to look at the type of concrete laid to see if it was some sort of problem concrete (I can remember what they were looking for). Then camera down drains which were found ti be blocked. All floor was lifted throughout the house and all plaster hacked off for a metre in height. Redecorate and new carpets throughout. New drains were installed.

Nightmare and a month in a hotel. 

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4 hours ago, rimfire4969 said:

No pipes near this part of the house. The old carpet has been down for 9 or 10 years so it’s not a major problem.

I know replacing the floor would solve the problem but that ain’t happening. 

The 2 part epoxy seems to be the easiest way to help and for £100 I can do all I need. 

2 part epoxy is easy to put down anyone could do it and it works.

Had a contract where i used this method, after redoing the drains,doing crack repair and re render,damp injection,replaster 1 m up,high build floor leveller and then 2 part epoxy which was the easiest bit.

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