Ground Floor Flooring Woes

adibell

Hello all. I’ve been browsing the internet for a while and found a few solutions to part of our problem, but not one that solves all.

Ours is a 1950s council end terrace house. We have a ground floor made up of suspended timber floorboards a over a concrete subfloor (7 inch air gap under floorboards) under the living room and dining room areas, and then the hallway into kitchen are quarry tiles laid fixed very solidly with mortar directly onto a thick concrete slab (would guess at least 4-6 inches). We’ve had a wall removed so the kitchen/diner is half suspended timber and half quarry tiles/concrete slab - the quarry tiles sit about 2cm higher than the floorboards.

We want to keep things fairly simple (young couple, living in the house, fairly limited budget, first house project, probably looking to sell within the next year or so, very competent diy-er trying to do as much myself). However the quarry tiles are cold underfoot, so it would be good to remedy this. My wishful thinking had hoped on raising the level over the floorboards to match the quarry tiles, then we could afford up to an inch of insulation & underlay height gain throughout the downstairs, then simple laminate over the top. However, I’m getting the feeling(fear) this might not be the correct thing to do, so could anyone answer these questions:

1. Would laying laminate over the quarry tiles likely have an issue with damp, despite being over a thick concrete slab (rather than directly onto earth)?

2. Does the plan for raising the level over the floorboards and then laying insulation & laminate throughout sound feasible/ridiculous? I realise it won’t work miracles regarding the cold floor, but if the alterntive is a massive job, would my hopeful idea potentially work/provide a slight benefit warmth-wise....

3. If what I fear is that the only option is to dig out the quarry tiles, would I also need to break out the concrete slab under the quarry tiles, & would that also then mean probably having to dig out the subfloor slab & floorboards for the whole ground floor too? This option makes me really worried this is going to be a massive job.

We are doing a full renovation, and haven’t started the kitchen yet, so we could technically do the massive job, I’d just prefer not to really going to add to costs and time. But if the proposed solution is naff, then please [politely] let me know what your suggestions would be

armchaireconomist

You're going to struggle laying the laminate across both structures, even with building up the suspended floor part. Even then laminate really needs a almost perfectly flat surface. It's really more bother than it's worth.


You can't remedy the quarry tiles without digging the whole floor out.

Fire_Fox

There are cheaper/ easier ways to deal with a cold floor. Winter will be ending by the time you get it all done. If it does not add cash value to the house don't waste your talents. Your buyers may well like the quarry tiles (until they move in).

Consider a large rug with thick non slip underlay, maybe a heated plug in pad underneath. Budget can be low to high, for something short to long term.

Rug either something hard wearing but needs a little effort to keep clean that you chuck before you go. Or hardwearing and can be cleaned, such as a real cowhide (I recommend Trendcarpet). Or a big chunk of 'washable' carpet bound at the edge by the flooring shop. There are even (pricey) rugs in tile form that you design yourself, and can extract bits if spilled on.

Heated pads of various sizes and power levels from Rugbuddy, Warmsoles, or Warmfloor 24. Cheapest rug underlay I have seen is IKEA Stopp Filt: can be folded, layered up, ordered online.

My parents would tell you to get slippers with chunky soles all round. And underfloor heating with your time machine.

adibell

Thanks for the answers guys.

Whilst keeping the flooring as it is could save money, it’s just not that viable for matching to the rest of the renovation. We’ve stripped walls back, replastered, decorated, new kitchen, new bathroom. We’re really keen to work out a way to lay laminate throughout the downstairs.

martinthebandit

We have laminate flooring and, guess what? We still put rugs down as it's cold on the feet.

Personally, if i was in your situation and really wanted laminate I would be knocking the quarry tiles off with a bolster chisel and lump hammer.

When it's flat lay hardboard down to level it off then insulation and laminate on top.

konark

If you're raising the level on the ground floor you're gonna be sawing the bottoms off all your doors.



TBH it sounds less work to lower the small area of quarry tiles than raise the rest of the floors. I'd also check to see if there's a DPC under those tiles.

adibell

If you're raising the level on the ground floor you're gonna be sawing the bottoms off all your doors.

Well, when the house is done, we’re going to be replacing all the doors anyway, so this isn’t such an issue really!

I'd also check to see if there's a DPC under those tiles.

There isn’t. It’s just mortar directly onto solid slab.

I’m doing the bathroom at the moment and have seen than self levelling compound says it can be used over wood floorboards (though I’ll have to seal any gaps up first). Does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks
Adrian

missile

adibell wrote: »

Thanks for the answers guys.

Whilst keeping the flooring as it is could save money, it’s just not that viable for matching to the rest of the renovation. We’ve stripped walls back, replastered, decorated, new kitchen, new bathroom. We’re really keen to work out a way to lay laminate throughout the downstairs.

We have laminate flooring laid over a concrete slab abutting suspended wooden flooring. No issues. Do not skimp on the underlay, in my experience this is false economy.