Wet Concrete Floor after Leak to from Underfloor Central Heating Pipe

foxela

I need some advice on how dry out the concrete floor after a leak.

The leak was traced and stopped about two months ago.  The central heating pipes have been re-routed above ground, and the underground ones sealed off.

In order to access the source of the leak, we had to have a 1ft x 1ft area of our laminate flooring removed, together with the tiles underneath before the floor could be dug out.  The tile adhesive was found to contain asbestos(!) so this also had to be removed/ground off (at considerable expense for such a tiny area).

Once the leak had been repaired, we were advised by the contractors to let the floor dry out for a 'couple of weeks' before having the hole backfilled, which we did.

Disaster has now struck in the form of our insurers, who have checked the floor for moisture and say the water content is very high.  They say we must remove all the flooring in our hallway - the laminate and the tiles (which means getting contractors in again the remove the asbestos and literally grind down the flooring to remove the adhesive - the bitumen contains asbestos), and then use dehumidifiers for a month or more to ensure all the moisture has been removed from the floor.

We are in shock at this, because we had assumed the floor was dry enough to replace our laminate floor with some LVT.

Because of the presence of asbestos, we are very reluctant to disturb it and would much rather wait for the floor to dry naturally.  Is this a realistic option?

Can anyone offer advice, please?

FreeBear

If you have a bitumen adhesive covering the floor, this effectively seals moisture in the concrete. To dry effectively and within a reasonable timeframe, the insurers are correct in saying remove the tiles & adhesive.

foxela

Thank you for this (although not what I wanted to hear!).  I was hoping we could just leave it to dry out naturally (even if it takes maybe 6 months), but that looks unlikely.  Thanks anyway for your reply - much appreciated.