Wet concrete floor after leak

Dangarratt

Hi All,

First time on here so please bear with me!

We moved in to a house earlier this year that needed and all rooms to be decorated. We have had all the carpet removed and at the moment the floors downstairs are back to the original poured concrete floors.

We recently changed the washing machine (3 weeks ago), but noticed over the last few days a large wet patch in the kitchen opposite the washing machine, there are no pipes under there that I am aware of, so I pulled the washing machine out to find a very very wet floor with a leaking pipe so I can only guess that the moisture has tracked across the floor. I sorted the leak yesterday, but was disappointed this morning to find the wet patch didn't look any different or dryer, therefore this evening I spent an hour with a heat gun drying the floor. 2 hours later I went downstairs to find the floor as wet as it was before I tried to dry it.

I am hoping this is just how concrete drys but I am very worried that something more worrying is going on!! Is there any advice out there from anyone on how to dry this out or how long I should expect it to take.... :mad::(

FreeBear

You are wasting time, money, and effort trying to dry the floor out with a hot air gun.

You need to ventilate the area and allow the concrete to dry naturally - This could take three to four weeks or even months depending on the thickness of the slab. A dehumidifier will speed things up a little, but it is not an overnight job.

Dangarratt

Thanks for this, I was worried about that! A dehumidifier is out of the question at the moment as we have just had most of downstairs plastered and of course don't want to dry the plaster out too fast

Thanks for the help, guess a few weeks of a wet floor

GDB2222

Dangarratt wrote: »

Thanks for this, I was worried about that! A dehumidifier is out of the question at the moment as we have just had most of downstairs plastered and of course don't want to dry the plaster out too fast

Thanks for the help, guess a few weeks of a wet floor

The wet floor will help keep the plaster from drying out too fast!

Head_The_Ball

You could try spreading cat litter or a similar desiccant over the wet area and replacing it every so often as it gets noticeably wet.

That might speed up drying a bit.

Dry the wet litter outside in the sun and reuse it.

Annie1960

If you have windows that you can lock with just a little opening, that might help.

I've had a lot of plastering and the floor screeded, and when the plasterer suggested doing this it seemed to really help the walls and floor dry out quicker, and I have no condensation on the windows.

Dangarratt

Thanks all for the replies, I think that is just an old fashioned wait that is in order!

ceredigion

The plasterer didn't kick a bucket of water over ?
Long story but don that !!