moisture under lino floor

Dave101t

Hi,
we have a lino floor in the kitchen and utilility room (downstairs) and where 2 pieces of lino meet, there is always water in the crack.

i pulled it up and its a basic concrete floor, with a thin layer of moisture all over it and black specks of mould.

if you didnt feel it on that one crack in socks then you wouldnt know its there, it doesnt seem to touch any walls, there are no damp areas in any rooms, just this moisture under the lino.

what should i do? just dry it where i can or get a professional to have a look?

andrew-b

Lino very often sweats underneath when placed on a concrete floor. It may also be that there's no damp proof membrane in the floor. When was the house built ? Our 1950s bungalow with concrete floors doesn't have a damp proof membrane in the floor which i've proven when digging a trench for the shower waste pipe. When we moved in there was lino in the kitchen and it was somewhat similar to yours in that it felt wet all round the edge of the units where the lino stopped. When i pulled it up it felt damp and smelt musty - it took nearly a week for the smell to go!

I would pull up the lino and replace it with ceramic floor tiles which is what we did. If there isn't a damp proof membrane in the floor you could replace the floor but that's a messy and expensive job and as there doesn't appear to be other problems seems a bit extreme.

Andy

Dave101t

thanks for your reply,

the house was built around 2002 so its very new.

id imagine it is sweating the way you described, the adhesive is wet so maybe its a simple problem.

thanks again!

Dave101t

update:

the wet floor was caused by a dripping pipe leading to the washer.
now the floor is mopped, its beginning to dry out well, i just cant get under units, but at least i know!