Sub-basement Floor

[harkerhill]

Hi

First posting - so please be gentle

I'm just emptying my sub-basement to sort out the damp and make it into a more usable room if possible. My house is a 300 year old farmhouse - 9 inch brick walls - no cavity.

So far, I've installed wall ventilation - coming through from sub-floors in other room to outside and I've hacked off 1m of old concrete plaster (found the original slate dpc).

After pulling back the carpets, I can see the edge of a black plastic dpc under about 1 inch of concrete.

Does anyone think it's worth removing the concrete floor to get rid of the DPC and let the floor breath properly? It's a pretty small room, approx 4m x 4m.

Thanks in advance.

 

[NT]

if you want to have even more damp, sure


NT

 

[harkerhill]

From what I understand, the same amount of damp is going to come up, but if it gets to the floor dpc, it will simply try to escape around the walls and be sent around the sides.

Not sure I am right though!

 

[NT]

No. Your slab will be wet no matter what you do, as it lays on wet soil. The only variable is at what pace that damp evaporates from the slab surface. Sealing it in will minimise RH increase. Opening it up simply means more water flow upwards into the building.

Its different to suspended floors where evaporation dries things, in this case it wont.


NT