Hello!
Two years ago, I had the worst dispute with the board of the housing association. Of course, in the end, I was right.
It was about the company that did the pipe replacement and recast my bathroom floor, having significantly too much water in the concrete mix (which was filled with LECA balls)... there is no other reasonable explanation.
The issue was that I waited over six weeks from when the floor was cast until I applied the leveling compound over the electric coils that the electrician had installed. A week later, the bathroom was completely finished. So the "pipe replacement concrete" had six whole weeks to dry, isn't that an extremely long time, and shouldn't you be 101% sure it's dry to continue working on the bathroom?
I called a construction guy who said that on building sites, tiles are laid the day after the floor is cast, which might have been an exaggeration(?)... but that it usually takes a few days at least.
Those of you who know about this, what do you say?
(my floor and the neighbor's ceiling below had moisture, but it dried up after a few months, and today, two years later, there is no moisture at all - so it didn't leak from my newly renovated bathroom as the board claimed. No, I did not do a new renovation, nothing was done after the moisture was discovered.)
Two years ago, I had the worst dispute with the board of the housing association. Of course, in the end, I was right.
It was about the company that did the pipe replacement and recast my bathroom floor, having significantly too much water in the concrete mix (which was filled with LECA balls)... there is no other reasonable explanation.
The issue was that I waited over six weeks from when the floor was cast until I applied the leveling compound over the electric coils that the electrician had installed. A week later, the bathroom was completely finished. So the "pipe replacement concrete" had six whole weeks to dry, isn't that an extremely long time, and shouldn't you be 101% sure it's dry to continue working on the bathroom?
I called a construction guy who said that on building sites, tiles are laid the day after the floor is cast, which might have been an exaggeration(?)... but that it usually takes a few days at least.
Those of you who know about this, what do you say?
(my floor and the neighbor's ceiling below had moisture, but it dried up after a few months, and today, two years later, there is no moisture at all - so it didn't leak from my newly renovated bathroom as the board claimed. No, I did not do a new renovation, nothing was done after the moisture was discovered.)
Six weeks is unusually short. Normally, the concrete should sit for at least 2-3 months, not for drying, but to allow enough time for shrinkage. Otherwise, there is a risk that the tiles or screed will come loose. You certainly don't lay tiles the day after, unless you've used quick-setting concrete.
Whether the concrete has dried sufficiently after six weeks depends on how thick it was laid and how much water is in it, as well as the room's temperature and relative humidity. And, of course, whether the remaining moisture can diffuse elsewhere without causing any damage.
Whether the concrete has dried sufficiently after six weeks depends on how thick it was laid and how much water is in it, as well as the room's temperature and relative humidity. And, of course, whether the remaining moisture can diffuse elsewhere without causing any damage.
If quick-drying concrete is available, then surely no one sees the benefit of using regular concrete? Is the quick-drying more expensive perhaps?jon_h said:
If you're doing pipe replacement, I find it hard to believe they use anything other than fast-drying concrete. Hundreds live there and want to use the bathroom; I don't think residents would accept a drying time of 2-3 months, which you might calculate the time to be (?)
If the company has used anything other than fast-drying concrete, they should definitely have informed the board and me so that we know it's not possible to complete the renovation for several months. ...no, I definitely think six weeks of drying time would have sufficed, anything else is unacceptable when living there. The company must have chosen quick-drying concrete. My neighbor waited almost as long and they had no problems with moisture.
Yes, very much.nattugglan11 said:
And then it's a bit nice with your confidence when you mean that the company must have chosen quick concrete, otherwise they would have told you. If you knew how much ignorance and carelessness there is in this industry, you probably wouldn't be so sure..
And as I wrote, it's not the drying time that's 2-3 months, it's the shrinking that mostly occurs then. It can very well dry faster or slower.
It totally depends on what type of concrete it is.
Did the construction company say you should
wait 6 weeks before self-leveling?
Did you do the rest of the bathroom yourselves?
We have worked with Ardex A-34/35 mix, which
is ready for covering after 24 hours.
Now we use more EPS-cement.
You do the self-leveling at least 3 days after it's laid and then it's the self-leveling compound's spec that applies for
covering time.
What applies to all mixing is that the amount of water should
be correct.
Did they mix the leca balls with cement water?
Before they laid the concrete on top?
Best regards, Putte
Did the construction company say you should
wait 6 weeks before self-leveling?
Did you do the rest of the bathroom yourselves?
We have worked with Ardex A-34/35 mix, which
is ready for covering after 24 hours.
Now we use more EPS-cement.
You do the self-leveling at least 3 days after it's laid and then it's the self-leveling compound's spec that applies for
covering time.
What applies to all mixing is that the amount of water should
be correct.
Did they mix the leca balls with cement water?
Before they laid the concrete on top?
Best regards, Putte
The problem is the construction company didn't say anything to the board, and the board didn't ask either, and I didn't know anything either. It was a mistake by the board not to find out, and I thought 6-8 weeks must be more than enough!! I don't remember the exact drying time but it was at least 6 weeks.ByggPutte said:
The firm did a so-called rough restoration, I had to do the rest, i.e. self-leveling compound, waterproofing, tiles, etc.
I don't know how the firm cast the floor, I only know that there are leca balls in it. I have a vague memory of looking into the bathroom when they were halfway done and then I probably saw the whole floor filled with seemingly just brown leca balls and no concrete, so I feel that they then filled the top/end with concrete over these balls.
What is cement water? They probably did as you asked, cement water(?) and finally cement.
My theory is that they cast the floor, and of course with the right or not right amount of water, it becomes wet in the surrounding/remaining floor that was left after breaking up. They broke up much of the floor to replace sewer pipes. So it couldn't have been many centimeters left down to the neighbor's apartment. During this floor casting, the small piece against the neighbor's ceiling became wet, of course, and a few weeks later she saw yellow stains in her ceiling... and then the board thought it was my new bathroom leaking water.
...but in fact, everything indicates that it was the floor casting that didn't dry as it should, because something was done wrong at some point. So it wasn't an error in my private bathroom renovation. Since I've been using it every day for 2 years now and there's no moisture under my neighbor.
The board treated me very poorly during this "dispute" that lasted for 12 months, because the board didn't want to involve insurance companies for some dubious reason. In the end, I got help from my insurance company which put an end to the dispute. But this still annoys me after a long time and I wanted to get answers regarding this concrete casting issue.
You can mix in some cement mixed with water into the leca balls. Just so they get soaked. When it dries, it is easier to walk on. But it doesn't have to be that they've done that. You can pour out the leca and cast a surface on top. That it seeped through to the neighbor below might be because they splashed water or had one of the mixtures too wet. And if there's just a thin layer left down to the neighbor, the water seeps down into the concrete and shows on the ceiling. And that might be why it didn't show right away.
It's unfortunate that they didn't want to involve the insurance company right away. The board must have gotten a bad deal from the construction company that they want to conceal. Strange that they didn't do the entire bathrooms, was that a choice from your side or something the association came up with?
Best regards, Putte
It's unfortunate that they didn't want to involve the insurance company right away. The board must have gotten a bad deal from the construction company that they want to conceal. Strange that they didn't do the entire bathrooms, was that a choice from your side or something the association came up with?
Best regards, Putte
Yes, there was only a thin layer down to the neighbor, and indeed that layer got wet. But I was completely inexperienced in renovation before and didn't realize it at first, and I was occupied with "research studies" on how to renovate bathrooms and how to resolve the dispute that arose later due to this moisture. Now, in hindsight, I know more.ByggPutte said:
Yes, I also suspected that the board hired informally to do the pipe replacement; it was a son of a man in the building who handled the pipe replacement, the son's construction company, that is. The painters who did the painting in the basement were just as suspicious, a group of Poles found somewhere by someone else's son. Terrible.
The reason the board didn't want to involve the insurance company was, according to the president, that the deductible was so expensive, double base amounts; it would be cheaper to redo it themselves. But the board knew or didn't want to know that you don't have to use the insurance just by reporting the damage. Or, as mentioned, they wanted to keep a low profile to avoid having to disclose the company that did the work.
We do localized repairs as needed where we live, and we only do basic restoration. A very small association. If we had been 100 apartments and all needed renovation, we would probably have torn everything out and made a better deal with a company that can do a complete renovation.
No, now we've strayed from the subject. It became concrete, and I believe I've gotten answers to all my questions. Thank you!
Good luck with neighbor relations.
We encountered something similar at work.
We did the groundwork and then some customers hired foreign labor.
No drying times to speak of.
And they filled an apartment with soot from a chimney.
Regards, Putte
We encountered something similar at work.
We did the groundwork and then some customers hired foreign labor.
No drying times to speak of.
And they filled an apartment with soot from a chimney
. Regards, Putte