I stripped the carpet away from the living room yesterday and exposed the quarry tiles underneath a plastic backed carpet and underlay. They are in surprisingly good condition considering. Lots of salts so they will need time to dry out. Now there is a section by the fireplace that is in very poor repair and upon further inspection it seems the slate hearth is bedded onto concrete and so the damp has been pushed outwards. At some point the tiles have been taken up and replaced with a screed and the screed painted :shock: to look like tiles. Now I assumed this was real tiles bedded on concrete and the tiles had spalled. Anyway not the case. My shock and confusion is that I cured a small amount of vinegar onto the screed and it fizzed quite a lot. So lime screed? Is there anything else that would fizz so? Any other test I can do?
What do I do to 'mend' it. The hearth with the slate and concrete is coming out - lime screed that? and then . . . the builder recommended bricks with lime mortar? But . . . he is a 'bit' heritage wise but not totally. He will use lime because I ask him to.
My thinking is dig out any concrete in the hearth area, and replace with a simple lime screed - not a full limecrete just what is in the rest of the room {probably} - is this likely to be acceptable? I'm not replacing the whole floor just a small section near the hearth. HELP :?: :?: :?: :?:
What do I do to 'mend' it. The hearth with the slate and concrete is coming out - lime screed that? and then . . . the builder recommended bricks with lime mortar? But . . . he is a 'bit' heritage wise but not totally. He will use lime because I ask him to.
My thinking is dig out any concrete in the hearth area, and replace with a simple lime screed - not a full limecrete just what is in the rest of the room {probably} - is this likely to be acceptable? I'm not replacing the whole floor just a small section near the hearth. HELP :?: :?: :?: :?:
