damp in floor advice needed

TBeckett100

hope someone can help.

We moved into a property recently and have decided to replace the floor with solid wood. So a bit bored this morning, i decided to pull up a bit (not glued) of laminate floor to have a look. Much to my surprise i find tiles underneath.

Now the house has damp issues. we have had most of downstairs tanked and replastered and someone is coming back to do a bit of the bathroom this week.

I have noticed on the floor tiles there are patches of damp and a musty smell.

I propose to paint on a liquid DPC on the floor, but I wondered whether I could just paint it over the tiles since they are even or should i rip all the tiles up and go down to bare "i assume" concrete underneath?

Any advice most welcome.

woodbutcher_2

In an ideal world,taking up the tiles would be best but to be honest if it were me i would give it a couple of coats of sythaprufe,then cover with flooring of your choice.

andrew-b

What sort of tiles? vinyl/thermoplastic or ceramic?
What age is the property? This gives an indication of the methods of construction of the floor and whether a plastic membrane would have been incorporated into the floor.

Before you do anything though you need to give the floor time to dry out and "breathe". The problem may be due to condensation or perhaps washing of the floor in the past.

When we pulled up the old vinyl floor in our kitchen we found thermoplastic tiles beneath held down with black bitumen (itself acting as a further damp proof membrane), it felt damp around the edges where i assume water from washing floors has seeped under and smelt musty. After a good cleaning and a week of being aired out the smell disappeared and there were no further signs of dampness.

To avoid further problems i wouldn't paint synthaprufe or similar on until it's dried out anyway.

ajtrader100

There is a product called moisturebloc extreme that will resist moisture to 95% relative humidity, and you can lay an engineered or lamnite floor directly on top.