Internal Asphalt flooring

evilgoose

Hello, I've finally identified the flloring in my house as ashphalt with a felt mat underneath. It varies in depth from around 12mm to 15mm.
The house is an ex-council 1950 semi.

The problem is that around the edge of the room the flioor is cracked and loose. Also in some rooms its hollow sounding and where i've had some stuff stacked on the floor damp has risen up through it (in patches). In one of the rooms alcove cupboards have been removed and there is no asphalt there.
I've started to patch in the hall by cutting the ashphalt back to a straight edge with an angle grinder, then painting a liquid DPM down,(I assume there is no DPN under the concrete slab) with the final coat key'd with sharp sand. Then ontop of this I've used wickes self leveling compound 'bulked' up with sharp sand.

Has anyone got any other suggestions what I could do?
Is what I'm doing correct, or should I look to replace the whole floor? - if so with asphalt or with a the selfleveling stuff?
Any idea;s how much asphalt floors cost - 2 rooms are roughly 4m x 4m and a hall of roughly 2m x 4m. Oh,yes I'm in the swansea area of S Wales.

One other thing - I'm installing a multi-fule stove in the livingroom- will the heat from this damage asphalt flooring?

I'm at my wits end with this floor now! :mad:
thanks

OddjobKIA

Right are you sure its asphalt???????????

you know the stuff the road outside is made of

Mikeyorks

Can't answer most of your questions.

But my last house was a 400 yrs old farmhouse .... and the lower floor was (red) asphalt. It only had a few loose bits where carpet gripper strip had been drilled around the perimeter and created cracks. But not loose enough that you could lift it ..... so not sure how deep it was (applied hot and trowelled I suspect .... looking at the finish) or the substrate.

But the house had no DPC and there was certainly no damp coming through the asphalt (in either direction). The previous owners had some badly fitted vinyl in the kitchen and water had got under it, from either washing or spills, and just couldn't evaporate. The smell when we lifted the vinyl was a bit more offensive than the septic tank.

So it should be waterproof if properly laid ..... but I think you need to get an expert in to have a look at it. It's solid and inflexible when set ..... which can create a hollow sound.

We had a 14kw multi-fuel in the lounge .... so I can confirm it doesn't melt the asphalt. But ...... you must stand it on a suitable plinth (ours was on 3" stone flags) and with at least 18" from the doors to the plinth edge. Amazing just how far a bit of wood or burning coal can roll if it falls out as you're fuelling.

EDIT

This might help ... certainly explains the use of the 'felt mat' separator you mention :-

http://www.premiermasticasphalt.co.uk/flooring.html

scousethife

OddjobKIA wrote: »

Right are you sure its asphalt???????????

you know the stuff the road outside is made of

It is called ashphalt whether its the same stuff or not doesnt matter.

Internal asphalt creates a water proof barrier, as well as a flat ish surface. Ive seen it its cracking round the edge on a number of places.

Id say what you are doing is the best solution OP, can you not mount the heater on a stone/marble slab or some other insulating material?

evilgoose

I think it's something like mastic ashphalt.
I've grown up with an open fire so am use to the odd rouge piece of coal, so itend to sit the stove - (only 4.9kw) on a slabbed granite hearth. I was a little worried that the ashpelt might become soft around the front of the hearth.

Yes, it's the carpet gripper which is the main culprit for my problems, on some sections they cracked the floor with the first attempt, so resorted to using 1 1/2 inch masonry nails to attach it.
Thanks for the link - that's the stuff, I've emailed them in hope!

scousethife

evilgoose wrote: »

I think it's something like mastic ashphalt.
I've grown up with an open fire so am use to the odd rouge piece of coal, so itend to sit the stove - (only 4.9kw) on a slabbed granite hearth. I was a little worried that the ashpelt might become soft around the front of the hearth.

Yes, it's the carpet gripper which is the main culprit for my problems, on some sections they cracked the floor with the first attempt, so resorted to using 1 1/2 inch masonry nails to attach it.
Thanks for the link - that's the stuff, I've emailed them in hope!

I've edit my above post for clarity.

Aye carpet grippers would probably be the cause, what we can do though these days is use 'no nails' or some similar adhesive rather than nailing them. they didnt have that luxury a few years ago.

evilgoose

thanks again.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing! - i've been searching for ideas and found an article regarding sulphate damage. Its in a old mining and steel area (infact its built on the site of a very large copperworks) I concerned that the waste may have been used for hardcore.
I've done some further digging in a damp corner, it appears that is about 15mm ashphalt followed by about 60mm of a very crumbly (I presume screed) with a firmer concrete below. As far as I can tell there is no dpm. I've put piece of underlay down with some old carpet to see if there is damp been drawn through by that, I know where I'd layed some of the broken pieces there was damp underneath when I moved them.
I'm wondering if it's worth replacing the whole floor with a new insulated one (and possibly include a duct for the radiator pipes.)
I've estimated material costs at about £350, (that with mixing it myself, I think I'll give minimix a ring tommorrow for a price) I'd hope to rope my brother into help. Is it worth replacing the floor in the long run?

mikey72

I bought a house with a clay tile over earth floor.
The plan was to replace it by digging out the soil, and putting in a concrete slab. As the floor would be new, it's subject to building regs, so I contacted the council. Big mistake.
Building control insisted it was dug out, and replaced in one slab for the entire downstairs, but when I dug out test holes, the wall foundations weren't good enough. There was a risk the walls could slide into the pit in the house. I offered to do it in stages, digging and backfilling, and then putting down the insulation and dmp, and then pouring one slab. Building control wouldn't move, it had to be excavated in one go, and they wouldn't inspect until I had dug it all out. In the end I had the floor covered in a new asphalt layer. As the old floor is intact below, it's not subject to building regs, it's dampproof, the carpets are glued to it, no problem at all now. The only thing they don't like is solvents such as white spirit being spilt on them.