Concrete floor issues and foundation help!

[itsdave]

Hi,

We are just about to complete on a house which needs completely refurbishing and there are a number of jobs we need to sort. The house is an old semi detached solid brick built farm cottage circa 1900.

First issue - Concrete floor -

In one of the ground floor rooms there appears to be an arrear of damp in the concrete floor and the thin wood effect laminate which had been laid straight on to the floor has lifted off (it is glued down elsewhere).

We have been advised that it looks like damp coming up through the floor rather than condensation, but I have read in other forums that it would be unusual for rising damp through the floor to be localised in one place.

We don't know whether there was ever a DPM laid, and I'm pretty sure the concrete floor is newer than the original house.

Does anyone know if it is possible to investigate whether there is a DPM without damaging it if there is one there? Also, if anyone has any advice on the best way to proceed regarding investigating the damp it would be greatly appreciated!

Second issue - Foundations -

At the moment we aren't sure what type of foundation exists for the house. As I said above, I don't think the concrete floor is as old as the house so I doubt it is a slab. However, if it were one solid slab and we end up having to lift the concrete to sort the damp problem, I would be worried about damaging the foundation using power tools. Should I be worried about this or should the smaller jackhammers which we could hire be suitable for this job without too much worry?


Thanks all!

 

[^woody^]

If it is not obvious, there are tests which can be done on the slab to see if it is damp coming up or just on the surface.

Rising damp through a floor slab does tend to be localised. And if it is recent, then drains should be checked too

 

[itsdave]

If it is not obvious, there are tests which can be done on the slab to see if it is damp coming up or just on the surface.

Rising damp through a floor slab does tend to be localised. And if it is recent, then drains should be checked too

Hi again Woody,

okay so localised damp can be rising damp then. That suggests that it either the floor doesn't have a DPM or it is damaged then I guess. Either way, it looks like we might have to lift the concrete to install/replace the DPM. I think we would lose too much head room if we just installed it on top and could risk bridging any DPC in the walls.

Thanks again.