Pantry floor.

[craig1]

Hi,

The floor in my pantry is the old ceramic red tiles.

It seems to be drawing moisture up from the ground which makes

me think they are layed directly onto the earth.

I think this is also causing the wallpaper on the opposite side of the

pantry wall to look damp.

As the area of the floor is small I was going to remove the tiles

myself. Could do with some advice on how deep to dig out and do I

lay the new concrete floor on membrane.

Any advce/tips would be great!

 

[noseall]

it sounds like you have an old quarry tile floor. it is most likely laid on a lime based mortar directly onto earth.

if you wish to just improve the floor then dig out 125mm of material, lay 25mm sand blinding, lay 1200 gauge dpm and 100mm trowelled concrete.

a full spec reg's floor would be overkill in my opinion but read here to find out how://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=509693#509693

 

[ModernMaterials]

I have just found exactly the same thing.

1)i lifted the quarry tiles

2) i kangoed through approx 2 inches of concrete

3) i dug out about 6 barrows full of wet sand which had been causing similar dampness to that which you have referred.

This uncovered sleeper walls on 2 sides which are presently drying out. The other 2 sides being a solid concrete floor (with plastic damp proofing) in the kitchen and a cavity wall which is the side of the house.

I also found a gas pipe which fed the cooker in the kitchen and some drainage pipe which allowed an air vent to circulate through the pantry floor, neither of which i needed, so i was happy to rip them both out. Had i needed the gas pipe i would have just worked around it.

I intend to replace all this with floorboards suspended on 5" by 2" joists.
i can see the ends of joists on the longer sleeper wall and i will be supporting the new joists on this wall also, with the other ends being supported on joist hangers screwed into a 5" by 2" wall plate screwed into the cavity wall with 10 x 100 fischer fixings.

I reckon the end result will be warmer than a concrete floor and also better ventilated.

A concrete subfloor is also a good idea and i got some advice on it, here:

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=694051#694051

 

[craig1]

Thanks guys!

Much appreciated.