Hi guys,
I live in a semi, built circa 1960. My whole ground floor is concrete, and it has a thin dark brown layer on it. I'm not sure if it is paint or some sort of liquid dpm, but the whole ground floor is carpeted directly on the brown layer+concrete without damp problems. Any idea what the brown stuff is?
The kitchen and adjacent utility room were laminate, but this was in a poor condition, so I've ripped it up. I've found that the utility room had a floating floor with mdf to even it with the kitchen floor because the concrete in the utility room is very uneven, and it doesn't have the dark brown layer either. At its deepest point its 4 inches below the kitchen floor level, and at the shallowest its 1 inch below, but most of it is 4 inches lower. The utility room used to be three tiny rooms, one of which was a toilet, but the walls have been taken down by the previous owners to make one room. The concrete floor in the utility room has patches of damp that are very damp, but there's no consistent damp problem. The patches are mostly near the old internal brick wall foundations.
I want to level the kithen and utility concrete floors to lay vinyl tiles, by concreting up the utility room. The utility room is about 2mx3m. This is where I'd like your advice.
From the knowledge I've gathered this is what I'm thinking of doing:
FIRST STAGE:
1.1. Lay 1 inch of sand (don't know which type: help) to bring the floor level up to reduce the amount of concreting to do
1.2 Lay a damp proof membrane for the whole room (damp patches on floor).
1.3 Lay insulation to again raise the lower levels up (don't know what type or thickness: help)
1.4 Concrete up the rest to the same level as the kitchen floor (screed? 1xcement/3xsharp-sand? help)
1.5 There is an exterior door facing door for the utility room, what do I do for bridging the cavity? Currently there's just mdf on 2x4 beams.
1.5 Wait two months admiring my first ever concrete floor
SECOND STAGE:
2.1 water-based levelling. Do I need another dpm layer if I've laid a membrane below? If it doesn't hurt to have another layer and it's not too dear I'll do it anyway.
2.2 The kitchen floor has some dents in it, I need to patch these before tiling, I heard mortar mix, can you give me more details, considering the only time I've heard of mortar is when they talk military things, and even then I don't know what it does.
Oh, I'd like to DIY all the way. Thanks!!!
I live in a semi, built circa 1960. My whole ground floor is concrete, and it has a thin dark brown layer on it. I'm not sure if it is paint or some sort of liquid dpm, but the whole ground floor is carpeted directly on the brown layer+concrete without damp problems. Any idea what the brown stuff is?
The kitchen and adjacent utility room were laminate, but this was in a poor condition, so I've ripped it up. I've found that the utility room had a floating floor with mdf to even it with the kitchen floor because the concrete in the utility room is very uneven, and it doesn't have the dark brown layer either. At its deepest point its 4 inches below the kitchen floor level, and at the shallowest its 1 inch below, but most of it is 4 inches lower. The utility room used to be three tiny rooms, one of which was a toilet, but the walls have been taken down by the previous owners to make one room. The concrete floor in the utility room has patches of damp that are very damp, but there's no consistent damp problem. The patches are mostly near the old internal brick wall foundations.
I want to level the kithen and utility concrete floors to lay vinyl tiles, by concreting up the utility room. The utility room is about 2mx3m. This is where I'd like your advice.
From the knowledge I've gathered this is what I'm thinking of doing:
FIRST STAGE:
1.1. Lay 1 inch of sand (don't know which type: help) to bring the floor level up to reduce the amount of concreting to do
1.2 Lay a damp proof membrane for the whole room (damp patches on floor).
1.3 Lay insulation to again raise the lower levels up (don't know what type or thickness: help)
1.4 Concrete up the rest to the same level as the kitchen floor (screed? 1xcement/3xsharp-sand? help)
1.5 There is an exterior door facing door for the utility room, what do I do for bridging the cavity? Currently there's just mdf on 2x4 beams.
1.5 Wait two months admiring my first ever concrete floor
SECOND STAGE:
2.1 water-based levelling. Do I need another dpm layer if I've laid a membrane below? If it doesn't hurt to have another layer and it's not too dear I'll do it anyway.
2.2 The kitchen floor has some dents in it, I need to patch these before tiling, I heard mortar mix, can you give me more details, considering the only time I've heard of mortar is when they talk military things, and even then I don't know what it does.
Oh, I'd like to DIY all the way. Thanks!!!
