Screeding advice needed

[Brizzle]

Hi, I hope everyone is well. First time poster but have read a lot of great advice on here in the past and was wondering if anyone can help because I am getting a lot of conflicting advice on how to rebuild what was a wooden floor sitting on a concrete screed that in turn sat on paving slabs with some kind of gap running down the length of the room (see pictures). The flat I live in is part of a large building built in 1864. The original floor rotted (am I told) due to an undetected leak in the shower room next door to the room being trapped by the wrong kind of render in the wall. The moisture had no where to go and made its way down throught the floor beems and over a period of time just eat away at the wood.

So anyway it gets worse. The insurance company agreed it was covered so asked me to get some quotes and one of them was a guy who quoted about £800 less than the second cheapest quote. Me being honest stupidly sent this guys quote in with the others, the Insurance company went for him and lo and behold he turns into a complete nightmare (took him 9 months to remove the debris from the room which he dumped in the back garden - on the threat of legal action - and when he did that he still left loads of it for me to get rid of) so unsurprisingly I sacked him.

So anyway I am left with a floor that needs a screed and rebuilding but I have no idea what the best plan of action is because of the paving slabs and in particular, the gap that runs down the length of the room. I have been told that the room needs tanking - (not going to happen), been advised to put a liquid screed down on a DPM, a traditional sand and cement screed with a DPM and also advised to remove the slabs and start a fresh. Has anyone seen any flooring like this before and if so what is the best way of rebuilding? The guy who removed the floor left a bit of the screed in the corner of the room in situ for some reason so it might give you an idea of what the original screed was like.

Any advice would be much appreciated. The wooden floor part is really straight forward, its just what it should sit on I need the help with!!

 

[Andys]

Those slabs look interesting, some might be tempted to smarten them up, fill in the gaps with a bit of lime mortar and just stick a mat on the floor

 

[plasticpigeon]

A suspended floor will need ventilation underneath it. Are the slabs stone or concrete? Do you know if there is a damp proof course under the slabs? I would doubt there is, so it may need a bit more remedial work.

 

[Flyfisher]

Since you're installing a suspended floor, I'm not sure it really matters what's underneath it. I'd be more concerned to ensure there is adequate ventilation. We have wooden floors on top of plain earth with the joists supported on bricks and they seem fine, but we do have good ventilation on three sides of the room.

Andys also makes a fair point about the original floor slabs. I appreciate you may not want to revive them but it seems a shame to bury them under a screed, just in case a future owner might like them.

 

[Kearn]

from the photos at least, the slabs look nice and would come up well with some tlc? questions about what is under them though will help determine how original they are vs modern replicas. if original and designed to breathe, then wood directly on top may not be the wisest addition, without a decent air gap and then you risk raising the height of the floor enough to cause other issues with the use of the room!

has the channel been cut out of the slabs or were they laid intentionally to leave the gap? not knowing anything about the house, room, layout, or history it is hard to say - but is it a potential drainage channel? could this have been an animal shelter originally?....

there are likely others on here that will give more advice, but some extra context, photos are info always seem to help!

i will be interested to hear more though...especially as I am currently removing a screed and concrete floor from an old animal shelter which at one stage (and hopefully still!) had original brick pavers...my plan is back to what it should have been and this room will be our entrance hall so no issue with brick.

 

[CliffordPope]

"has the channel been cut out of the slabs or were they laid intentionally to leave the gap? not knowing anything about the house, room, layout, or history it is hard to say - but is it a potential drainage channel? could this have been an animal shelter originally?...."


The slabs appear to have been laid independently in the two sections, as none of line up, surely suggesting the two sections were unconnected in purpose?

I think if it had been used for animals, with a drain in the middle, the slabs would have had a slight slope towards the drain?

I'd suggest there was once a partition wall - a passageway perhaps.


If it were mine I would lift all the slabs, adjust the floor level to the required level with appropriate screed or whatever, then relay them so that they match properly.