Concrete floor and damp

[Socksitis]

Hi, we live in a Victorian farmhouse, typical two rooms downstairs and a passageway/stairs. One room has a solid concrete floor, no damp course. We have been here for 27 years and lived with it, the carpet on the concrete floor has black patches that are more evident when the weather is wet - obviously damp coming up through. The walls are now dry, success there, but that is not my problem.

I want to remove the carpet and put in some flooring that can tolerate the damp underneath. I do not want to dig out the floor and put in a dmap course, not that keen.

But, if I were to lay a stone floor on top, then where the room abutts the pasageway there would be a difference in height of several inches. It would not be appropriate to have a step up as it is near the entrance porch and would become a hazard.

Any ideas of a different flooring solution or do I really need to dig out the floor?

 

[malcolm]

What is the carpet made from at the moment? Concrete is a bit breathable and anything waterproof on top like rubber backed carpet or underlay will trap the water and make the concrete wet.

But concrete is a lot less breathable than lime. I've not had any trouble with hessian backed carpets in a concrete floor.

 

[Socksitis]

hessian backed, high wool content, but maybe the underlay is the issue, that is something rubbery, I do not know how you describle non wool underlay?

 

[malcolm]

The concrete will probably be wet below the rubber underlay. Maybe that's making the floor cold and attracting condensation.

For an experiment you could remove the underlay and put the carpet back (maybe clean the black bits) and see if the problem goes away.