Damp rising through tiled kitchen floor

[mrchook]

Wonder if anyone can help with a question:

We recently had a new kitchen installed, including a newly laid tile floor. The kitchen is at the back of the house, at a lower level than the other rooms, and has a cement floor beneath the tiles.

Just recently damp seems to be rising through the tiled floor - patches of water appear on the tiles, and the grout seems constantly wet.

Any ideas on what this means, and how we can address it?

Advice appreciated!

SH

 

[Mudster]

Was the floor wet before the tiles were fitted?

Is this a recent occurance or been happening a while?

Are you sure there isn't a leak and the water is creeping from under an appliance somewhere?

To your knowledge is there any form of damp proof course under the tiles or the existing slab?

 

[mrchook]

Thanks for your reply. To answer your questions:

The floor was very wet underneath the old lino before the tiles were fitted, but the old dishwasher had a bad leak, so my assumption had been that this was the cause.

The kitchen has been fitted about three weeks, we have only just noticed the damp.

I am reasonably sure this is not a leak problem - have checked all fittings behind the appliances, and the damp seems to not be appearing from the area where they are located.

I have no knowledge of the original damp proof course under the existing slab - we only moved in 6 months ago. The building survey did mention that the garden flower bed bridges the damp course around the kitchen, and that the paving levels are generally high, and recommended that these be lowered - could this be the problem?

One other note: the kitchen fitters found that the levelling compound they put down took a very long time to dry - I wonder whether this is a further symptom of the damp problem.

Thanks for your help.

SH

 

[Mudster]

You're almost answering your own questions here.

From what you've said it seems logical the water is making its way up through the floor.

I'm afraid it's a case of pulling up the tiling and fit some sort of DPC.

Your surveyors remarks are also rather damning and i'm afriad that fact that that survey exists probably nullyfies any hope you had with an insurance claim, although generally I'd call the building insurer anyway, they may not cover it but could find the root casue before deciding not to cover you.

 

[mrchook]

But the survey didn't suggest replacing the damp proof course, rather lowering the height of the external ground level so that it didn't breach the DPC. I had planned to do this next spring.

There is no way we will take up the tiles at this stage. Do you think lowering the outside ground level could alleviate the problem?

Thanks!

 

[Mudster]

Possibly, but it needs to be inspected, I can't answer specifics without actually seeing the problem, and even then it may only be an opinion rather than a diagnosis.

 

[taffyh]

Got a similar problem at a house we are currently renovating for sister. Pulling up the old lino revealed obvious water. Could be a leak from the ancient sink but I would rather put some form of damp proofing before fitting the kitchen.

Question is, can I just use a paint on membrane (pitch epoxy DPM) on the existing concrete or should this the floor be dug up and a new one put in (on top of a plastic membrane)? The final covering will be floor tiles laid on waterproof adhesive.

 

[blainey]

Hi there
I recently had water squelching up from newly laid kitchen tiles. Turned out to be the hot water inlet pipe for the washing machine. It was dripping slowly over a long period of time and soaked the chipboard layer under the old tiles. Could this be what's up with yours?
Al

 

[JohnD]

Don't know how common this is, but I had a 50-year old house with steel water pipe passing through the concrete kitchen fllor; it had corroded at the elbow where it turned to rise up through the floor. the wet patch had not been thought important as the sink above had a leaking waste which seemed like the cause.

Had to dig up the floor in a trench, take up the old pipe, add plastic protection sleeve.

 

[joe-90]

Copper pipe will corrode after about 20 years too. Sounds like it's a 'floor up' job to me.


joe

 

[Moz]

you can tank the floor if its lower than the rest of the house ,with a damp proof visqueene sheet then use a leveling compound an then retile ,if not dig it up an tank it