I've seen a few posts on here where people are bedding the flags on sand and something else? The floor we have has stone flags which are extremely lumpy and uneven and difficult to walk on. There is no damp in the walls which have the original lime plaster, so we don't want to put a new floor in under the flags in case it pushes damp up the walls. So are thinking of lifting the flags, levelling and re-laying but have no idea what's underneath - they may be straight onto the soil. If they are, what is the best way to level and re-lay them so they are even? And what is ok to put underneath? They are not damp but we're aware that if anything solid stands on a rug, the rug starts to rot! And get mildew - but furniture with a gap under (eg on legs like a table or sofa legs) is ok. So there probably is some moisture coming through it - it can't breathe with something stood on top. Although it doesn't smell damp.
- Thread starter Hazel7000
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Itchinfilth
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- Bingley
Hello, in my view the floor is working well in allowing moisture to travel through and it's not getting trapped anywhere. This is evidenced as it's clearly not travelling to the walls. You'll get lots of options from members for what to bed in. I have gone as basic as bedded on sand to level (Sand goes on top of the compacted earth) and pointed in lime and it's been great.
Itchinfilth
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- Bingley
The weight of my flags means they aren't going nowhere on the sand. The only reason we had to lay some flags was about 20% of the flags were taken up before pouring concrete over the lot. When we dug the concrete out we had to replace the flags so needed to get these level. The original ones have remained acceptably level for hundreds of years. I wasn't too fussy on the sand and went for what I had spare at the time. Think it was a mix of sharp sand and whatever else I had.
Cubist
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Theres another and critical consideration here. If the faces of your flags are very uneven and lumpy it may take many, many, many attempts to put each of them down at the level you would like regardless of the material below you would use. This idea is so fraught with the risk of provoking a major barney that a divorce petition would be the least of your worries - the author of this idea may find a final resting place place beneath those flags.
Cubist
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There is an option you could explore but it is rather drastic, messy and comes with some risk. You could rent a Concrete/Stone Grinder to remove the high spots from the flags. Could be a lot faster, considerably easier than lifting and re-seating all the flags, and less challenging to your family relationships.