Victorian concrete floor

[Neilthomas]

Hello,

We recently bought our first house which is a Victorian Terrace built around 1870. we are currently trying to undo all of the damage done in the 1960s and have unearthed a few horrors. We lifted the brown patterned carpet in the dining room, three layers of vinyl, a layer of Lino and finally a layer of bitumastic felt. Underneath all of this is what I guess is the original concrete floor, it is very uneven and only a couple of inches thick. Underneath this is a layer of broken slate (which I assume is the DPM) then this is layed directly on to a fine mix of sand, soil and ash.
My question is, with all of this uncovered, what would you recommend for floor covering? In an ideal world we would put wood down, but I'm hesitant to paint a DPM on to the surface of the concrete. Any advise would be much appreciated!

Neil

 

[noj]

If none of the impervious layers were dripping with water when you lifted them then you've got a very dry floor - I guess you can do whatever you want

In most period places any sheet of plastic left on the floor overnight runs with the stuff

 

[JoceAndChris]

Concrete? In 1870? Might it be a limeash floor?


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime-ash_floor

I would suggest that even if your house is very dry a breathable floor construction is the way to go.

Without painting anything I would imagine boards laid over the original surface could be good. But you do need to know what that "concrete" is.

 

[plasticpigeon]

Yes, a bare concrete floor sounds odd. Is it at the same level as the other floors in the house? Broken slate would not make a very good damp proof course, but better than none. When you say dining room, do you mean the rear room in the main body of the house, and not a room in the back extension? Sometimes the rear room in a smaller Victorian terrace, which was sometimes called the kitchen, was a sort of general living/cooking space, and had a quarry tiled floor. If there is an added rear section that is quite small, that would be the scullery. If it is a larger terrace with a further large room in the rear extension part, then the above wouldn't follow as that would be the "kitchen" with a smaller scullery behind it, and the middle room most likely wold have had a suspended floor.

 

[MatthewC]

I would support Joce above, and go for a limecrete floor with something breathable on top as a good long term solution. Anything else is temporary, even if the floor seems dry right now. I assume you are intending to stay awhile in the house? It's always better to do a decent long-term fix rather than a short term job just to save a few bob.

Can you please provide more details about the house and the problems you have uncovered, plus the general location

 

[Easrow]

Could the broken slate floor actually be the original floor? We bought a 1847 house this year and under the layers of carpet, vinyl and black bitumen was a red concrete which I decided to take up as well to see what was below that. We have blue lias flagstones directly on the soil. I'm now restoring it and leaving it on show.