Discovered a cement floor.

[Cornishcottage_]

The dining room l discovered after lifting laminate flooring is cemented. Awful builder (“renovates/restores historical houses”) came today to assess and quote for works, he recommended removing cement and tanking it. Showed him external wall where l had dug a trench to get quote to reduce ground level to internal level before l knew it he grabbed a spade and smashed the damp bricks to oblivion. He won’t be darkening my door again. How do l stay sane whilst trying to restore and renovate. Very despondent. And second question please suggest best options l have for the cemented floor, many thanks

 

[a twig]

Either break it out and limecrete, or potentially put in a suspended floor of ceiling height allows?

hate trades like that but on the plus side reckon you dodged a bullet there!

 

[Lacan07]

As Twig said a suspended floor is the ideal scenario with air bricks providing proper air flow underneath. There are various method for doing a limecrete floor, you could even just cut a channel around the walls of the room to save a bit of money.

 

[88v8]

The dining room l discovered after lifting laminate flooring is cemented. How do l stay sane whilst trying to restore and renovate. Very despondent. And second question please suggest best options l have for the cemented floor.

One thinks one has bought a house, then finds one has bought a project. Same happens with classic cars...
It needs a mental adjustment... hopefully there are parts of the house where you can live while you tackle the needy bits. A sealable plastic door like this can help segregate the mess.

The upside is that the skills you acquire will serve you well all through your life.

Floor.... I like wood floors, but if you already have high ground levels outside then a suspended floor may not work as this requires external air vents under the floor, and it needs a lot of depth to allow for the joists, the supporters and the dwarf walls.
I would suggest you remove the concrete - is it full-depth or just a couple of inches - and do a limecrete floor, then it will need something permeable on top like quarries or stone, laid in lime and pointed in lime. If you put a carpet on top it must be permeable... turkey rug or wool, on wool felt underlay.

If the wall is damp, after you lower the ground level/delete the concrete you can expect it to dry out at about a month per inch of wall thickness. If you have damp gypsum plaster internally, that needs to go as well of course, just to add to the fun.

If you have dry gypsum you could leave it, but if you are going through the mess of plastering you may want to bite the bullet while you have a lime plasterer to hand. Needless to say any paint on the lime walls then needs to be permeable - clay paint, limewash, etc.
It doesn't really matter what you paint gypsum with as it can't make it any worse.

Good tradesmen are hard to find, which is why many of us have become multi-skilled DIYers. And they tend to be booked up far ahead.
Keep looking, and meanwhile make a jobs list and enjoy the glow as you cross things off it. The other day I found the To Do list from restoring the dining room of our previous house in 1986, it brought back some pleasant memories.

 

[Cornishcottage_]

Thank you for finding the time to respond that’s been really helpful

 

[EmmBee]

The dining room l discovered after lifting laminate flooring is cemented. Awful builder (“renovates/restores historical houses”) came today to assess and quote for works, he recommended removing cement and tanking it. Showed him external wall where l had dug a trench to get quote to reduce ground level to internal level before l knew it he grabbed a spade and smashed the damp bricks to oblivion. He won’t be darkening my door again. How do l stay sane whilst trying to restore and renovate. Very despondent. And second question please suggest best options l have for the cemented floor, many thanks

View attachment 9953

Thanks for sharing, we’re in a similar situation (half the flat has original wood flooring but discovering cement in other places…) what did you end up doing? And did you go for it yourself or get someone in?

 

[LadyArowana]

Good tradesmen are hard to find, which is why many of us have become multi-skilled DIYers. And they tend to be booked up far ahead.
Keep looking, and meanwhile make a jobs list and enjoy the glow as you cross things off it. The other day I found the To Do list from restoring the dining room of our previous house in 1986, it brought back some pleasant memories.

People that can rock up quickly may be not busy for a reason. The builder who did our project and that we were so happy with never advertises, he gets passed around from one large project to the next. He fills in with small things for anyone he worked for before. A neighbour will be doing a house eventually and when she asked for his number I said I would contact him and introduce as a random call or e.mail from someone he probably wouldn’t answer as he doesn’t want to waste time like that. There are good people out there, so ask around or even keep an eye out for what looks like a well managed site and go and talk to them.

 

[bradleyc1982]

silly question, is the problem with concrete floor breathability?

 

[DaveG]

Yes. Concrete alone is not breathable. Add to the fact that a concrete floor should be laid with a DPC (usually a thick plastic waterproof sheet) you get zero breathability. Great if the entire house has one running across an even foundation but when it’s laid after original foundations, typically in a single room, it displaces the water below to its edges and into the walls resulting in damp walls

 

[bradleyc1982]

Yes. Concrete alone is not breathable. Add to the fact that a concrete floor should be laid with a DPC (usually a thick plastic waterproof sheet) you get zero breathability. Great if the entire house has one running across an even foundation but when it’s laid after original foundations, typically in a single room, it displaces the water below to its edges and into the walls resulting in damp walls

Is it such an issue if the whole floor is concrete then? I’m looking at a period house and I’m pretty sure the whole downstairs is concrete?

 

[Lacan07]

silly question, is the problem with concrete floor breathability?

Yes, not breathable but can also fail and allow moisture to penetrate.

Its fine for a modern new build when you can detail the dpc membrane into the cavity wall as you build them 'up' but retro-fitting a dpc into a solid brick wall is difficult. I still can't fathom how you would do it effectively.