Best Way to Prepare Concrete Floor for Real Wood Flooring

[Georgie73]

Hello

We have bought a house and the ground floor is solid concrete and totally even. It is 'green in colour'. We don't know if this green is some sort of seal.

On top of this 'green concrete floor' was a layer of black self adhesive membrane. We made the mistake of pulling this up before we had the walls plastered so have spent forever cleaning plaster off of the concrete.

Anyway, we now have 90% of the plaster up - there are no raised lumps, and what is left is ground into the concrete and dry.

Should we reapply new black adhesive membrane? And if so, can we use flexible glue between the membrane and the solid wood? If not, what method can we use for laying the new floor?

Many thanks
George73

 

[motorbiking]

It sounds like a self leveling compound was used previously - this can be a sort of cement pale green. Either that or a primer was used to stop any moisture between the wood and the concrete causing swelling. Are you planning to put any underlay down before the wood? This is normally a good idea to reduce noise and improve thermal efficiency

 

[Georgie73]

I wasn't planning too also, the method I want to use, I using flexible glue - I doubt if I can use underlay.

The house itself is incredibly warm. The previous owners had carpet down.

Can I use the flexible on concrete?

 

[crazydaze]

If you are gluing the solid wood to the floor, you MUST check that subfloor with a moisture meter, at least a protometer, if that shows any sign of moisture, you'll need a hydrometer to work out what you are working with. The moisture meters for measuring moisture in walls etc will likly give a false reading when used on floors.

If the floor os dry and very smooth after testing, be sure to use a flooring grade adhesive.

If there is a residual moisture level present you'll need to lay a liquid DPM, screed and then fit the flooring to this.

 

[dazlight]

Also before putting and DPM, screed or adhesive make sure you remove all plaster. As they wont stick to plaster dust.
We now grind any floor with plaster on. Drives me mad plasterers can't cover the floor while they work.