advice for solid oak floor

[masona]

I do now begin to wonder whether they should have removed the bitumen before using the sika? As roofer mentioned earlier, the weak link is between the bitumen and screed.

I'm guessing there maybe a chemical reaction with the old bitumen and the sika or you have no dpm or is damaged. Do you have other concrete floor that you can check the damp reading?

 

[Largemoo]

Insurance assessor been and gone and advises to take legal action against floor fitting company for poor work.

floor fitting company have told me they are not liable as they laid the floor in good faith and argue they didn't detect and moisture issues before the oak was laid.

Of course that leaves me in no mans land - I'm going to get an independant assessment done and then seek legal advise.

Does anybody know of any company that will carry out this sort of assessment?

 

[joe-90]

Applying a DPM to a floor which doesn't have a DPM will draw water up via capillary action. You should have gone for a floating floor with a breathable underlay. What a waste of good Bosnian oak.

 

[AndersonC]

Applying a DPM to a floor which doesn't have a DPM will draw water up via capillary action. You should have gone for a floating floor with a breathable underlay. What a waste of good Bosnian oak.

Joe, can you explain this one further? Are you saying that putting a DPM on ANY floor which doesn't have a DPM would induce moisture problems, (including a floor which has been asphalted)?

I need to start getting some understanding of ground-floor flooring systems you see.

Thanks

 

[Largemoo]

Joe-90, can you explain further, this would mean that a liquid DPM makes matters worse? No one has mentioned this up to now and if what you are saying is correct then surely the fitters should have checked this prior to laying the oak?

thanks

 

[WoodYouLike]

It can make matters worse if there is an existing (or new) large moist problem. Liquid DPM is mostly used when new screed is still a litle bit too wet (3 - 5 % instead of 2 - 2.3%) to speed up the installation safely.
Higher than that and most liquid DPM won't 'hold' the excess moist down in the end, and the 'protection' breaks down, causing moist problems.