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- 25 Jun 2020
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We have just lifted up the floor in our dining room to investigate the cause of rotting skirting boards in our new home...
What we have found is a floating floor construction consisting of a plastic sheet, concrete slab, insulating foam, and then chipboard beneath thick underlay with carpet on top. The rotting skirting boards have been caused by moisture rising up the two inch gap left at the perimeter of the plastic and concrete layer. The chipboard directly above was completely rotten and the bottom of the skirting board is starting to rot too.
The walls are sandstone which have been wicking up the groundwater - but with gypsum plaster on top of the lime plaster and this concrete slab floor, all the moisture is being pushed to this perimeter gap. The question is... how to easily and cheaply rectify the issue?!?
If we add more plastic and concrete into this gap, we understand that this will create efflorescence in the walls with the water pressure build up. Could we look into removing the gypsum (we have done this in a room upstairs already and found good quality lime plaster behind it) and then add limecrete into the gap to create a hybrid floor? Would the gap need to be bigger for this?
Please advise!!!!!
What we have found is a floating floor construction consisting of a plastic sheet, concrete slab, insulating foam, and then chipboard beneath thick underlay with carpet on top. The rotting skirting boards have been caused by moisture rising up the two inch gap left at the perimeter of the plastic and concrete layer. The chipboard directly above was completely rotten and the bottom of the skirting board is starting to rot too.
The walls are sandstone which have been wicking up the groundwater - but with gypsum plaster on top of the lime plaster and this concrete slab floor, all the moisture is being pushed to this perimeter gap. The question is... how to easily and cheaply rectify the issue?!?
If we add more plastic and concrete into this gap, we understand that this will create efflorescence in the walls with the water pressure build up. Could we look into removing the gypsum (we have done this in a room upstairs already and found good quality lime plaster behind it) and then add limecrete into the gap to create a hybrid floor? Would the gap need to be bigger for this?
Please advise!!!!!