Just uncovered flagstones, what to do with them?

[RedB]

We are renovating a Victorian house and in the last room to tackle, we have just pulled the carpet up and uncovered flagstones. They seem to have a thin layer of flaking concrete (or similar) on them and then black paint. There is a smell of damp, although we know one wall is damp, I suspect because the outside ground level on that wall is too high, but it may be that there is a bigger problem we dont know about yet. Presumably the thing to do is clean the stones (and advice on how best to do that, do we need to take them up?) and let everything dry out and see what happens? The room is planned to be a playroom for a 3 year old and before we foundthe flagstones we were going to put laminate down but we don't really want to cover them up, although they are not particularly toddler play friendly!

So I suppose my questions are - how to clean the stones and should we take them up to see what is underneath?

Thanks

 

[robgil]

i suspect the flaky stuff is screed ,any pics?

 

[Tom]

You could just take one or two up to see what's underneath but I suspect it's probably just earth or sand...which is good!!. You certainly don't need to takethem up to clean them. Sugar soap, water and lots of elbow grease is the best thing to clean them with.

Can you lower the ground outside on the wall that's damp? That would obviously improve things a lot. Lots of fresh air, too, to dry the floor out. However, remember, with a breathable floor you will always have 'moisture' in the floor. Try not to think of it as 'damp', as this conjures up all sorts of negative thoughts which can be inapproriate.

Could you swap this room for another? Say, turn a dining room into the playroom and have this room as the dining room?

Oh and one last thing.....we need pics!!!

Jaqy

 

[Gareth Hughes]

The black paint is likely to be some species of bitumen gloop intended to stop the damp. This and the carpet will between them have done a pretty good job of trapping moisture (together with the ground level problem). You should establish that the flags are on earth and haven't been relaid on a damp proof membrane of some sort, but then, with the floor levels sorted, ventilation improved, a breathable floor covering (such as rush matting), fingers crossed and a following wind, you should have many happy years of relatively dry playroom. And a little bit of damp will help baby build up a natural resistance to bronchitis, pneumonia, plague etc.

 

[Tom]

And a little bit of damp will help baby build up a natural resistance to bronchitis, pneumonia, plague etc.

Absolutely. It never ceases to amaze me why some people want to live in hermetically sealed boxes, whilst eradicating all traces of moisture, when our bodies are around 60% water :roll:

 

[Lime]

Unless you need to I wouldn't take them up.
The likelyhood of anyone laying a dampproof membrane underneath and then replacing the same flags is very unlikely IMO.
They need careful cleaning with water and scrubbing brush to start with.
Treat each flag separately doing a little at a time, carefully lifting with a sharp knife (without scratching) any stuff stuck to the surface.
The more time you take the better they will look.
Allow loads of time for them to dry out which may take yonks with the trapped water under them caused by the carpet and screed placed on top of them.

 

[borischarlton]

What a great find. We have a toddler and our house has flagstones or quarry tiles throughout. He very quickly learnt that falling hurts and is the first of his peers to learn the joys of skidding across the floor on his knees.

Rob

 

[RedB]

Have hopefully added an attached pic. Thanks for the advice, we will set to with sugar soap and see what they look like. As for raising children in damp, have no fear, she has been living in Victorian houses all her short life, 'nuff said! And its probably my comfort I was thinking of in the playroom, lots of kneeling on the floor, it doesn't seem to worry her!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Brilliant! You've got a very rewarding job there waiting for you. Liberon do products for finishing flagstone floors - an oil sealer, and a wax finishing product I think. I'll investigate more and do a trial here.

Please do keep us posted on how it goes with removing the concrete. I second the gentle cleaning up (though you will have to get more vigorous if it doesn't come off) with scrubbers and scrapers. Good luck!

 

[Flyfisher]

What a shame that all that gunk was piled on in the first place. Good luck with its removal; I can imagine the house smiling down on all your efforts.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Agree with everything above - how exciting; what a find; clean gently; don't worry about breathable damp; germs and draughts are good for kids, etc.

Keep us updated. Any more pics of your Edwradian/Victorian place with the cistern to beguile us with? Pretty please?

 

[Wren]

As regards using the room as a playroom - you could have a beautiful flagstone floor with a rug in the middle of it.

 

[yamin]

Congratulations! What a great find! We found one under carpet in our snug - this is what it looked like - much like yours


http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9441&p=107648#p107648

And here's how it looks now - still not perfect - they'll prob never be like the ones in Lygon Arms in Broadway (oh my word, they are beautiful, the sheen.......) Anyway! Still lovely, and our dampo exposed, know not to fall over kiddies manage very well!



Good luck!

 

[Tom]

Wow, Yamin, your floor looks absolutely beautiful !! I can't wait to get mine oiled....but not until the builders have finished traipsing in and out :roll:

I'm hugely jealous :mrgreen:

Jaqy

 

[yamin]

Oh, it'll be worth the wait Jaqy! And I sympathise re the builders - mine have been great, but carrying all that damp concrete across my beautiful oak plaanks........aaaagggghhhhh

 

[Tom]

Oh mine just think nothing of dropping things onto or dragging things across my floors; flags downstairs, oak boards upstairs :roll: The work they do is fantastic....it's just the bits in between!! Sometimes I really have to bite my tongue VERY hard :lol:

Jaqy

 

[lou]

Now I am very confused because my flags are on earth and look v. damp - i.e. little dampish puddles. These were the flags which I was going to take up and dig beneath to lay a limecrete floor. They are pretty even and may have been there since around 1550 so should I dig up and replace with limecrete floor which looks like a v. expensive option or leave them there and try and dry out the house in otherways?

 

[JoceAndChris]

How long have you been in the house? Because when we moved in we had little dampish puddles on flags and often wet to the touch, but now we don't. We increased the heating, ventilation and installed a dehumidifier.

I would say that removing your possibly 500 year old flags would be a crime worthy of SPAB's darkest torture chambers. :wink:

 

[Moo]

If the answer to Joce's question is "We've been in the house for ages", then the next question has to be "Where is the water coming from?"
Do you have a very high water table, or could it be a damaged drain? Or is there what we had - a concrete yard that sloped down towards the house?
Whatever the cause, this response to another thread is, I think, pertinent here:

A limecrete floor will just end up as a puddle if the water table is as high as it sounds it could be. A modern concrete / insulation / DPM floor will need to take the DPM through the walls to work properly which isn't going to be easy to do and will probably wreck the wall if attempted.

 

[Penners]

fingers crossed and a following wind, you should have many happy years of relatively dry playroom. And a little bit of damp will help baby build up a natural resistance to bronchitis, pneumonia, plague etc.

Sadly, however, neither baby nor you are likely to have any resistance to the following wind. You're stuck with that until baby's digestive system matures.

That's a beautiful floor. I suspect that the bitumen-based gunk is likely to be more difficult to remove than the concrete stuff. If it won't come off any other way, you might like to try a Strippers of Sudbury's product. Have a look at their "I want to remove..." page and read the "Bitumastic paint" section.

http://www.stripperspaintremovers.com/I_want_to_remove.htm