Concrete slabs and kitchen floor???

HouseDemo

*This is my first post so please be gentle!*

My OH and I have recently purchased our first house and today we ripped up the kitchen floor. Underneath 4 sets of vinyl floor tiles we found random patches of concrete on top of the concrete floor underneath. The floor is not even and it seems the previous owners placed random slabs of concrete down to try and even it up but it is still uneven andwe want to remove them and start all over again.

We are trying to do as much of the work ourselves to save money and i dont have the first idea about trying to remove them. Does anyone have any ideas? The only other thought we had was to get someone in to level the floor meaning we would lose a couple of inches off the height of the room overall (which im not too worried about really).

What do you guys suggest?

Thanks

wallbash

Not enough information

But making some wild guesses

quote recently purchased our first house, so short of money ???

No visible damp ??


Me I might leave the 'extra ' concrete blocks alone. float some new concrete
then a bucket full of self levelling over the top .

Is this a bodge ???

The kitchen had a working floor , so fairly flat already and the OP did not mention damp!

Otherwise its digging up the floor, installing DPC, insulation screeding
etc etc ....... which costs time and money ..... but still a DIY job.

David_Aldred

Hi,
Depends how much you want to spend and what level of dryness you require. If money is not limited then excavate floor and lay a new floor to current Building Regs. The options / costs with this are also variable depending upon the spec you go for. All specs should have a damp proof membrane sealed into the wall dpc to give one complete barrier to ground moisture. Be mindful of a gap opening up between wallsand floors as the new floor will settle and dampness will emerge at this point so it needs to be sealed with flexible impervious material. Current specs also require insulation either under the floor or on top. The advantage of laying on top and then say a floating chipbaord floor is that the floor is warm and has some degree of bounce to it in addition to giving a space within the insulation where you can run services. Other alternatives are screed and asphalt finsishes but these are hard and if you want to run any services such as plugs etc they are a hassle to run at a later date if you have not built in service channels.

If you are trying to botch the existing floor you have to accept that it might not be successful so do not go fitting a £10K kitchen on top of it and feature wood block floor. Spend the extra and get the basics right with a new floor even if it means biting the bullet regarding costs. Options to botch existing floors are numerous but favourites are often levelling compounds (but they tend to detach sometimes especially if the floor is damp and they are not a wearing surface). Sealants such as Wykamol EP40 or other similar products will make an impervious coating to a damp floor so long as the floor is level as they are only the consistency of thick paint but this from what you describe is not the case. Alternative botch for an existing floor is to asphalt over a poor substrate which does tend to mask a whole number of evil floors but this is min 16mm deep and may cause a trip hazard where it is higher than adjoining floors retained plus you need to adjust doors / thresholds. The asphalt is relatively cheap though and it is impervious and able to be walked on in a few hours. Make sure if you are asphalting that the asphalt is taken right up to the brick / stone of the wall and all plaster / timber is removed prior to asphalting or perimnter skirting / plaster will be sat on a damp floor / wall joint. Ask the asphalt contractor to inspect before simply booking them so you can get their opinion of whether they can save the floor.

Hope this helps - kindest regards, David Aldred independent dampness and timber surveyor.