Water damage to cellar floor

[zammonewfl]

Hi
I recently paid for a cellar to be tanked/damp proofed (it has a plastic membrane fitted to the walls and floor) my builder then laid some chip board on top of the membrane and i then laid some vinyl flooring on top of that to make it look smarter.

Two days ago a pipe to the thermalstore blew in the cellar and caused a whole load of water to gush out onto the cellar floor. A lot of the vinyl has come loose as the glue has got too wet so I have had to pull it up. Also because the chipboard sits on top of the membrane there is quite a bit of water trapped between the membrane and chipboard so some of the boards near the pipe got very wet.

Now I can try and hire a pump to get rid of the water and hopefully the floor will eventually dry out. However, I'm not sure if I would be wasting my time here because if the chipboard has got too wet, I assume it will eventually rot and breakdown, resulting in me having to replace it anyway. I'd rather not have to replace the chipboard as I'm worried about piercing the membrane that sits below it to keep the damp out of the cellar. That would invalidate the warranty for the membrane then

Any advice/thoughts much appreciated. Thank you

 

[JohnD]

wet chipboard, throw it away

chipboard is a horrible material anyway. You might consider reflooring with WBP ply, I got some at Wickes recently with a nice hardwood face, stained and satin varnished it, made a very nice floor.

As you cellar might be damp it is best to seal the edges and back before fixingt.

 

[Deluks]

What he said.
Probably better to mop and bucket the moisture out as best you can then lift the floor and leave it for a week or so with a dehumidifier running.

The membrane should be strong enough to walk on if it's the dimpled plastic type. If it's blue polythene dpm then wear some old slippers or just a thick pair of socks if you're walking on it. It's fairly tough though.

If there's no insulation under the chipboard then might be an idea to put some under your new floor. 50mm jablite (polystyrene) sheets would suffice.

 

[Nige F]

Your house insurance "should" cover the cost of repair to the damage caused by the burst pipe - tho` not the repair to the pipe/vessel itself .