Hi All,
I'm in the process of replacing the laminate floor in our conservatory and taking the opportunity to add some electric underfloor heating. The conservatory was added by the previous owners.
Unfortunately when taking up the existing laminate floor, I found some mould and damp on the subfloor.
From what I can see, there's the slab (and I'm assuming screed), insulation (approx 1 inch) with 18mm Caberfloor on top.
The first and most noticeable issue is wet and mould around the edges, with one particularly wet patch (see photo1), and some more mild version of this.
Having cut away the caberfloor and insulation (and expanding foam, which has been used around the the edge of the whole room), I then used a hose to soak the outside of the conservatory until I saw water showing on the inside (this took around 10 minutes!).
I can see the water is entering in 2 places. Firstly, where the conservatory UPVC panel is sat on the DPM - where there are gaps in the silicone, water is seeping through - see "photo2".
Secondly, just above this, water also seeps through a section of the UPVC panel trim - see "photo3".
Does anyone know if this is normal, and I could just apply silicone to both (properly this time, unlike the original installers) - or is there something else that should be done to stop water getting this far?
I was also hoping there would be some weep holes on the exterior of the UPVC panels that may have become clogged, that I could unclog to help the water drain away, but I can't find any - do they normally exist on UPVC conservatories?
The second issue is that there is some mould (much lower levels of damp) coming through the middle of the room - see "photo4". There was an existing smaller conservatory before this one was built, and I'm assuming they just butted the new slab DPM up to the existing slab, and moisture is coming up in the gap. I was thinking of laying a membrane above the cabrefloor before I lay xps, underfloor heating mats and new laminate - but not sure if it's wise to lay a membrane above the caberfloor and trap moisture. Any ideas welcome (I'm avoiding replacing the caberfloor due to cost).
Many thanks in advance for any help!
I'm in the process of replacing the laminate floor in our conservatory and taking the opportunity to add some electric underfloor heating. The conservatory was added by the previous owners.
Unfortunately when taking up the existing laminate floor, I found some mould and damp on the subfloor.
From what I can see, there's the slab (and I'm assuming screed), insulation (approx 1 inch) with 18mm Caberfloor on top.
The first and most noticeable issue is wet and mould around the edges, with one particularly wet patch (see photo1), and some more mild version of this.
Having cut away the caberfloor and insulation (and expanding foam, which has been used around the the edge of the whole room), I then used a hose to soak the outside of the conservatory until I saw water showing on the inside (this took around 10 minutes!).
I can see the water is entering in 2 places. Firstly, where the conservatory UPVC panel is sat on the DPM - where there are gaps in the silicone, water is seeping through - see "photo2".
Secondly, just above this, water also seeps through a section of the UPVC panel trim - see "photo3".
Does anyone know if this is normal, and I could just apply silicone to both (properly this time, unlike the original installers) - or is there something else that should be done to stop water getting this far?
I was also hoping there would be some weep holes on the exterior of the UPVC panels that may have become clogged, that I could unclog to help the water drain away, but I can't find any - do they normally exist on UPVC conservatories?
The second issue is that there is some mould (much lower levels of damp) coming through the middle of the room - see "photo4". There was an existing smaller conservatory before this one was built, and I'm assuming they just butted the new slab DPM up to the existing slab, and moisture is coming up in the gap. I was thinking of laying a membrane above the cabrefloor before I lay xps, underfloor heating mats and new laminate - but not sure if it's wise to lay a membrane above the caberfloor and trap moisture. Any ideas welcome (I'm avoiding replacing the caberfloor due to cost).
Many thanks in advance for any help!
