Waterproofing conservatory concrete floors
Nicola Hull
Hi there,
We bought a house, had a full structural survey etc etc. Anyway, there
was always a gross smell in the conservatory, a nice big Wicks job with
a vinyl floor. Upon lifting the floor, we discovered a large layer of
newspaper which had all gone pretty mouldy. Yuck!
To make matters worse, the concrete base has been poured directly over a
sewer manhole cover, you can see the rectangular damp line where the
cover is located under the concrete. So much for a full survey.
Ignoring the fact that this is probably illegal, and the manhole cover
should be accessible, can anybody reccomend a suitable waterproofing or
course of treatment to stop the whiffy damp smell, and is vinyl flooring
a good idea in a room that gets very hot and very cold depending on the
time of the month?
Thanks, Nathan
http://www.hullnet.demon.co.uk/
--
Nicola Hull
Keith Mendum
In article <xZWuhCAm...@hullnet.demon.co.uk>, Nicola Hull
<nic...@hullnet.demon.co.uk> writes
first activity. You may well find that the old cover was the sole source
of damp. The slab may have been laid with a damp proof membrane
underneath it, in which case you only need to let it dry and all should
be well, otherwise try injecting a damp proof course fluid into the
slab. Our conservatory floor is waterproof-ish concrete with 9mm WBP ply
overlay and Flotex carpet, which like vinyl is impermeable. 10 years
down the line, no problems, with similar temperature swings to your
conservatory.
--
Keith Mendum
Lee Shepherd
>a good idea in a room that gets very hot and very cold depending on the
>time of the month?
Shouldn't that be time of the YEAR? Or is it something to do with PMT?
:-)
--
Lee Shepherd Error 726: Full Sig file unable to
l...@lshepher.demon.co.uk be delivered due to lack
http://www.lshepher.demon.co.uk of bandwidth.
Peter Knight
Nicola Hull wrote:
>
> Hi there,
> We bought a house, had a full structural survey etc etc. Anyway, there
> was always a gross smell in the conservatory, a nice big Wicks job with
> a vinyl floor. Upon lifting the floor, we discovered a large layer of
> newspaper which had all gone pretty mouldy. Yuck!
>
> To make matters worse, the concrete base has been poured directly over a
> sewer manhole cover, you can see the rectangular damp line where the
> cover is located under the concrete. So much for a full survey.
Special man-hole covers are available (from amoungst others, Wickes...)
for use where an extention, etc, is built over an existing man-hole.
These covers have air-tight seals, which are clamped by screwing down
the cover to the frame. I suggest you replace the existing cover with
one of these. However, (posslbly, but unlikely) the drains were moved
when the conservatory was built - so you may just be able to pave
over the (if it is) redundant man-hole.
>
> Ignoring the fact that this is probably illegal, and the manhole cover
> should be accessible, can anybody reccomend a suitable waterproofing or
> course of treatment to stop the whiffy damp smell, and is vinyl flooring
> a good idea in a room that gets very hot and very cold depending on the
> time of the month?
Firstly, is the floor concrete, or is it actually a sand-and-cement
screed over concrete? A sand-and-cement screed will be a lot smoother,
and many floor coverings can be laid over this. A concrete floor will
be quite rough, and the only floor coverings that can be laid are paving
or quarry tiles. I assume that you actually have a smooth floor -
as otherwise the vinyl would have broken-up.
There are a variety of concrete hardening/dust-proofing/damp-proofing
compounds that are available from builders' merchants. These are not
what I would recommend where you want lay tiles over, however. They
are fine where you want to leave the floor uncovered. There are also
a range of concrete floor paints available - though these are a bit
tacky in a house.
You could try laying vinyl tiles using a bituminous adhesive. For a
belt-and-braces job, paint the concrete with bitumen water-proofing
before laying the tiles. The tiles are laid with a slight expansion
gap, so will be fine in the heat. What they cannot stand, however, is
UV exposure - this degrades the plastic quite quickly.
Both quarry tiles and paving can be laid where the floor is very damp
though they both require a lot of height.
Where the floor covering goes over the man-hole, the floor covering
can be laid on the surface of the hatch, but not joined to the covering
on the rest of the floor, so this can be lifted. You will need to
have decided what covering you are using when buying the man-hole
cover, so that you can get the right type.
To tackle the smell - this was probably caused by damp either
in the old newspaper, or in the fabric backing of the vinyl. As you
are going to chuck both of these out, you will automatically get rid
of the source of the smell. Some of the smell could be coming from
the drains, but fitting a sealed cover will eliminate this, also.
#include <std/disclaimer>
Regards
Peter Knight