Dig up and relay floor?

travel_freak

Hi,

I moved recently and the kitchen was carpeted (yes, carpeted!!). When I removed the carpet the floor underneath is a disaster area.

It has old quarry tiles but these are uneven and cracked and it seems someone in the past has poured a thin layer of plaster or concrete over the top - this is all uneven, cracked and damaged.

Eventually I would like to tile the kitchen but need a sound base first to work with.

How easy would it be to do this myself and does anyone have any tips for this?

I had builders in to quote for other work and they said the floor needs to be dug up and a concrete base put down along with some kind of damp proofing.

Another builder said I could just put "self levelling compound" on top.

Do I need to dig down (and if so by how much?) and would I need to use concrete or "self levelling compound".

Also could I put some kind of damp proof layer down myself? The builders said the quarry tiles are laid on bare earth with no damp protection and some mentioned putting some sort of black stuff down that you paint on?

Many thanks for any advice.

Regards,

TroysMum

It sounds by what you decribe, that someone has already tried to self level the floor over the quarry tiles. When they say put black stuff on the floor it sounds like they want to use bitumastic emulsion, i'm not sure how beneficial that would be on the floor.

I would say if you want it done properly i would dig up the floor and lay some damp proof membrane, maybe some insulation and concrete it. The thickness of concrete would be minimum of 100mm. So the depth you dog depends on how much insulation you put down. You would need building regs approval (i think) when redoing the floor to that extent.
If you go the self levelling route, you wouldnt need building regs approval.
It all depends on cost and how much interuption you are prepared to put up with. Digging the floor up would be significantly more disruption than simply self levelling the floor and then tiling on top.
We used to live in an end terrace with quarry tiles, to be honest we self levelled then tiled on top, but we moved shortly after so i dont know if there have been any faults with it.

Doozergirl

If it were me, I'd be doing it properly. Dig it up, damp proof, insulate, concrete.

vansboy

Pretty much similar to what we found, in our last house!

They had layed an inch of concrete over the tiles, which made a step into the kitchen area!

We dug out & insulated as Doozergirl says.

& I recycled the tiles, after cleaning them all with wire wool & diesel & DAYS of effort, before laying them in the rear porch & outside the office entrance.

Looked nice & saved throwing them in a skip, or trying to Freecycle them!

VB

pdrskint

seasons greetings
floor leveling.. why not have your floor asphalted. that is about one inch thick it is self levelling and works as a damp proof course,
ive renovated many old houses and this works a treat,
and no you carnt do it yourself.
it would also be cost affective.

travel_freak

Hi

Many thanks for the helpful replies.

Sorry to be a dunce but what sort of insulation should I use?

I have seen on screwfix that you can get rolls of damp proof membrane, am I correct in thinking I dig down, make a relatively flat surface, then lay the rolls of damp proof membrane, then the insulation on top of that and lastly the concrete, in this order?

It doesn't seem that difficult provided I can get stuck in with the digging and can manage to lay the concrete relatively smoothly!! The builders I had round said the quarry tiles will have been laid just on bare earth so the digging shouldn't be that hard work, I hope.

Thanks again.

Regards,

ariba10

I would put a layer of sand down under the membrane to stop anything sharp puncturing it.

But the rest I would go along with/