50mm Screed drying time in basement

[Steveb21]

I had 50mm of liquid screen poured last friday morning.... so it has been down approx just over 4 days.

Semi basement - one third of basement is above ground - and it has 3 small windows. Temp down there at the moment is about 10 degrees.

I popped my head in earlier and I can still see some areas that appear to still look damp.

Would a halogen heater and a fan speed up the drying time? I was planning to start with framing out my metal stud over the weekend. Floor channels will be glued to the floor.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Glue?

 

[Steveb21]

Yep, Glue.
Something like: HB42 adhesive

Metal stud frame, floor to ceiling. Not fixed directly to basemen walls to prevent the tanking from being penetrated with screw holes.

Top of metal stud will be mechanically fixed.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Drying time is about 1mm per day.

Andy

 

[Steveb21]

50 days for fully cure for 50mm. However will/should that stop me from carrying on the metal stud work? I just need to stick down the metal U channels to the floor using adhesive. As long as the top of screed is dry it should be OK to proceed?

I don't intend to switch on the UFH or tile just yet.

 

[robinbanks]

Drying time is about 1mm per day.

Andy

I thought there was another factor to that, like "up to 30mm, 1mm per day, then 0.5mm per day for thicknesses over"

Also got to factor possibly limited air movement and cool temps in a basement.. might take longer than 50 days!

One way to keep an eye on it is to place a sheet of plastic on a small area of the floor; stops evaporation so the surface of the screed looks darker

Even then, turning the UFH on will probably drive some more out; it was an odd effect, to see the outline of my UFH pipes clearly in the floor, 30 days after it was poured, and 1h after putting the heating on. Ran it for 2 weeks before laying the LVT

--


Has it got UFH in? You can hire heaters that will use the UFH to aid drying the screed if your heat source doesn't have the facility (some ASHP have a temperature ramp profile over several days)

Easiest way would have been to cast the floor channels into the screed! Why not fix them using short mechanical fixings that won't hit the UFH pipes - 20mm hole and short concrete screw? They don't need pullout resistance on the bottom of the wall..

 

[Steveb21]

I may just do that. My stud will be 100mm, u left an additional 100mm where the UFH pipes have been laid.

So mechanical fixing into the 50mm will be an option.
Have a few other things to get on with so will let it dry out further.

 

[SpecialK]

Check the manufacturers screed instructions. Some say its OK to run the UFH after a few days on a very low temp.
A dehumidifier or ventilation will certainly help. Mine was walkable the next day. You may need to remove the laitance from the top otherwise glue wont stick.