Carpet over screed with bitumen

Leif

The sitting room had parquet flooring which I lifted, but there are traces of bitumen on the screed, not thick, but a few mm in places. I am concerned that it could cause problems for underlay and carpet, by for example causing the underlay to break down unduly rapidly (underlay will rot anyway). The bitumen is hard to the touch even in warm weather, but clearly it will flow under pressure, and possibly meld with underlay. Suggestions please.

Removing the bitumen is probably not an option, too hard a task apparently. Perhaps a thin membrane although I do not want to trap condensation, the screed being cold. I wonder if there are any poultice style bitumen removers i.e. paint/pour on a thin layer, leave a day or a week, and peel off.

Alfrescodave

I would not worry about the bitumen traces too much as bitumen is used as a backing for some types of carpet tiles.

Also I guess that this is old bitumen and will therefore have hardened over time so will only flow under extremely high temperatures which is unlikely in your sitting room.

prosaver

the bitumen is there to stop the damp coming up

vax2002

It can be screeded over with ardex arditex , a local floor layer should oblige for a price, you will then have a nice new latex cement floor.