Leveling an exsisting concrete and slab floor 20mm

[purplemonkey]

hi, I need to level off a 4x12metre room, at the moment its quite uneven with slabs and a concrete slab. Its hard to say but I think upto 20mm in places. Everywhere I read says screen should be minimum of 50mm or thereabouts. Self leveling compounds look extremely expensive. The floor is unlikely to be damp proof, so I'll start by laying 1200guage membrane down.

Could I then lay a 20mm screed across the entire floor, this would likely be 10mm in places and upto 30mm in others?

I want to be able to finish with wood either laminate or planks. At the moment the ceiling height is only 210cm so not much room to play with.

cheers.

 

[lymmranger]

OK - I am old enough (lucky enough?) to have lived in over 14 different properties......

none had a floor that a spirit level liked.....

For any flooring to be successful it needs to be smooth and certainly not up and down(hopefully you understand that)
A smooth floor "out of level" does not prevent you laying anything........

If you insist on spirit level floors then you have too much time and money!

If you level it you WILL need new skirting boards and new doors!!!!!!!!!

 

[purplemonkey]

hi, thanks for the reply although I'm not on a mission to have the levelest floor in the uk, I'm just looking for a solution so I can pop some nice wood boards down. The room is currently in a warehouse state, i.e. no drywalls no skirting, no doors. So this isn't a prime concern. head hight is my only thought at the moment.

we are thinking (now) laying 22mm t&g chipboard throughout to give us a solid "level" floor. but how to lay the boards on top of a poly membrane? Can't use screws or nails as it would puncture, should we just glue them in place and assume weight will hold them? And how to level them up in the areas that require it? we are talking 20mm in some places.

 

[lymmranger]

Why???????????

this is NOT necessary

you mention limited head height and then in the next breath add an extra inch to the thickness of your floor

wooden floors will add that inch anyway

 

[purplemonkey]

I'm not sure what your suggesting, or disagreeing with?

I'm looking for a solution for a very uneven concrete floor which I want to finish with wood (for one reason to feel warmer to the feet), the floor has no DPC, and as mentioned I have little vertical space to play with.

So rather then me grasping at straws, would you like to suggest what course of action would be best?

 

[lymmranger]

OK lets start again....

how old is the house and in particular the room (is it a new extension)

Why do you think it has no DPC?

Have you taken moisture readings?

I was questioning you wanting to put chipboard down

All laminate floors need an underlay which will help level slight imperfections

...underlay will also be required for a "real wood" floor if fitted as a floating floor

None of this will address the fact that you say your floor "falls" about 20mm over the length of the room

 

[purplemonkey]

best guess would be sometime around 1890, although anybodies guess as to when bits of it were added/amended. this floor appears to be a continuation of the garden(same flagstone design), but someone has built walls around it! so we have flagstones on one side, and a concrete block on the other side, and a couple of holes. we are addressing the holes with joists and chipboard to level to the current flagstone/concrete level. So really we just need to cover the entire area with a nicer warmer finish. And basically avoid digging it out 35cm to add the usual gubbins a normal floor would expect. Under the flagstones its just mud, so no dpc.

 

[catlad]

You could get the floor ash felted that would even the floor up.

 

[purplemonkey]

hi, would you mind elaborating, I've not heard and don't know what ash felt is. I searched for Ash Felting a floor and didn't find anything useful.

 

[lymmranger]

hi, would you mind elaborating, I've not heard and don't know what ash felt is. I searched for Ash Felting a floor and didn't find anything useful.

...think he should have said "asphalt" same stuff as roads!

Yes that would be an option - for a while all houses had a layer

Bloody stinks for a few days though!

Edit - As its an older house (very much!) this may well be a very good option - it will level and damp proof all at once.
I should point out I have no experience of it neither do I know how much it costs. I used to live in an old 1890`s cottage and next door had it done it took about half a day to do a through lounge. He seemed quite happy with it

 

[catlad]

Google mastic asphalt and there is a you tube clip of someone doing a balcony but its the same principle.

 

[purplemonkey]

ah ok asphalt. found the video, looks like a real messy job, I'll track down someone to quote on this. cheers.

 

[dazlight]

Good thing with asphalt is its dry in a few hours.

 

[lymmranger]

Good thing with asphalt is its dry in a few hours.

screed smells better (but in this case I think asphalt is the chap we need!)