Membrane Madness

happyhero

Hi

Can any body help me, I have a 1930's house and I'm re-doing the kitchen. Half the kitchen is floorboards and the other half has tiles over (I think) concrete. These tiles are approximately but not exactly level with the floorboards.

I want to have some amtico flooring layed in this room and they have advised since the house was built 1930's and the tiles seem original, that I should dig this area up and lay in a membrane with concrete on top to level with the floorboards at the same time. Without the membrane they reckon it will get a bit damp. I am happy with this idea because this end does want sorting out, if only to get it level, but what membrane do I get?

I looked on Screwfix

https://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/sea/searchresults.jsp;jsessionid=B1YT2EDVHLFTVCJO2C1CJ0Q?_dyncharset=UTF-8&q=membrane&n=&pn=1&pd=1&pi=1&cn=1&cd=1&x=0&y=0

but they have blue ones and black ones, both which both seem to comply with some sort of regulations.

Which one should I get and what gauge should I get?

I would appreciate any help and I would also be interested to know what the difference is apart from colour, and why would you use different gauges?

Anybody please enlighten me.

Ted_Hutchinson

A damp proof course membrane should be 1000ml gauge or over. The thicker it is the more expensive and I suppose better quality but the 1000 gauge is fine for your purposes.

While you are taking the floor up do think about putting underfloor insulation down.
I did when my floors needed redoing and it makes such a difference to be able to walk downstairs on cold winters mornings without having to put your slippers on to walk over the kitchen floor.

shows how to do it under the floorboards
shows how to do under a concrete slab.
If you've got the height in the room and don't mind raising the floor you can also put the insulation down and lay chipboard flooring over it and then tile on top of that.

A lot of heat is lost through the floor and a cold concrete floor, even if it's got some tiles on top, will attract condensation. (and is cold on winters mornings if you've forgotten your slippers)