Greetings all! First post, like many on here I’m after some advice, guidance and clarification as I’ve read so many differing routes to take it’s all becoming a bit of a mind f…..well, you get the picture!
In a moment of madness I purchased a reclaimed Jarrah wood parquet floor which I intend to fit into the lounge / dining room in my place. Over the past couple of months this has been painstakingly cleaned and scrapped. My question is on how to best prepare the subfloor for this. Should I have just taken the easy route and bought engineered jarrah floor? Well, where would the fun be in that?!
My bungalow was built in the late 60’s (believed to be 1968 / 69) and originally had a finger block parquet floor in this room. It also had all the water pipes and central heating pipes imbedded in the concrete.
When I moved in I discovered that the original parquet had been removed and replaced with a cheap laminate and then had a thick underlay and carpet laid over the top. (The previous occupant was very elderly and I think she got cold with just the laminate down as the old heating system wasn’t really up to much)
My suspicion was that one of the old underfloor pipes had burst and damaged the floor, hence its removal. Some of the bungalow had pipes fed from under the floor whilst the main room had pipe work running down the walls. (I have re-plumbed the whole property so now none of the old underfloor pipework is in use.)
Now that the room has been completely cleared I am almost certain that this happened as there is an area where it is clear that the surface screed has been dug up and replaced. It is also directly between 2 old pipes that came out of the floor….the plot thickens!
Now to the crux of my question. Where the old parquet was removed there is a residue of the old bitumen adhesive that was used to fix it down. As I am now well aware, this can cause problems when prepping the surface for anything new. The property does have a DPM (a bitumen type, discovered when cutting a channel for new drain installation.) but I am unsure whether this was damaged / repaired in the lounge when the pipe incident occurred. Also there is a crack in floor (only 1mm wide) that runs across the room where I think the place has settled over the years. After much reading and researching I am thinking of doing the following:
Fill the crack – Not sure what to use for this, does it even need worrying about?
Level off the repaired concrete bit in the floor with a grinder (it’s a little lumpy)
Apply a layer of ARDITEX NA over the whole floor, approx 3 – 4mm thick.
Apply ARDEX DPM 1 C as a precaution that the DPM may be damaged (although there are no signs of damp anywhere, I’d rather not take chances and knacker my new floor)
Prime the DPM with ARDEX P4
Apply second layer of SLC (more ARDITEX NA?)
Glue down parquet blocks with suitable bitumen residue friendly adhesive such as Lecol 5500 or SikaBond 5500S
Is this an acceptable plan of attack or are there other options I should consider? Should I try and fill the crack with something before the first coat of Arditex NA? Are the products I intend to use suitable? (I think they are, from what I have read!)If anyone has any suggestions or alternatives on what I’m thinking, I’m all ears!
Thanks for reading, looking forward to your inputs.
In a moment of madness I purchased a reclaimed Jarrah wood parquet floor which I intend to fit into the lounge / dining room in my place. Over the past couple of months this has been painstakingly cleaned and scrapped. My question is on how to best prepare the subfloor for this. Should I have just taken the easy route and bought engineered jarrah floor? Well, where would the fun be in that?!
My bungalow was built in the late 60’s (believed to be 1968 / 69) and originally had a finger block parquet floor in this room. It also had all the water pipes and central heating pipes imbedded in the concrete.
When I moved in I discovered that the original parquet had been removed and replaced with a cheap laminate and then had a thick underlay and carpet laid over the top. (The previous occupant was very elderly and I think she got cold with just the laminate down as the old heating system wasn’t really up to much)
My suspicion was that one of the old underfloor pipes had burst and damaged the floor, hence its removal. Some of the bungalow had pipes fed from under the floor whilst the main room had pipe work running down the walls. (I have re-plumbed the whole property so now none of the old underfloor pipework is in use.)
Now that the room has been completely cleared I am almost certain that this happened as there is an area where it is clear that the surface screed has been dug up and replaced. It is also directly between 2 old pipes that came out of the floor….the plot thickens!
Now to the crux of my question. Where the old parquet was removed there is a residue of the old bitumen adhesive that was used to fix it down. As I am now well aware, this can cause problems when prepping the surface for anything new. The property does have a DPM (a bitumen type, discovered when cutting a channel for new drain installation.) but I am unsure whether this was damaged / repaired in the lounge when the pipe incident occurred. Also there is a crack in floor (only 1mm wide) that runs across the room where I think the place has settled over the years. After much reading and researching I am thinking of doing the following:
Fill the crack – Not sure what to use for this, does it even need worrying about?
Level off the repaired concrete bit in the floor with a grinder (it’s a little lumpy)
Apply a layer of ARDITEX NA over the whole floor, approx 3 – 4mm thick.
Apply ARDEX DPM 1 C as a precaution that the DPM may be damaged (although there are no signs of damp anywhere, I’d rather not take chances and knacker my new floor)
Prime the DPM with ARDEX P4
Apply second layer of SLC (more ARDITEX NA?)
Glue down parquet blocks with suitable bitumen residue friendly adhesive such as Lecol 5500 or SikaBond 5500S
Is this an acceptable plan of attack or are there other options I should consider? Should I try and fill the crack with something before the first coat of Arditex NA? Are the products I intend to use suitable? (I think they are, from what I have read!)If anyone has any suggestions or alternatives on what I’m thinking, I’m all ears!
Thanks for reading, looking forward to your inputs.