I am in the process of laying flooring at home. I have just had underfloor heating installed, and the place where all the heating pipes come together couldn't be placed in the EPS groove boards. Therefore, I have cast up to the regular floor height there. The area is about 0.75 square meters. The total thickness of the floor was 50 mm. I laid coarse concrete at the bottom, about 40 mm, and finished with 10 mm self-leveling compound.
Now I am going to lay age-resistant plastic on this and then lay the floor. How long should I wait to lay the plastic and the floor so that I don't trap any moisture from the coarse concrete or the self-leveling compound?
Now I am going to lay age-resistant plastic on this and then lay the floor. How long should I wait to lay the plastic and the floor so that I don't trap any moisture from the coarse concrete or the self-leveling compound?
It's the concrete that's the issue, it retains the moisture. You should have just used self-leveling compound alone, then there wouldn't have been any problems laying it after a few days. Now I would wait at least a week.
But the moisture can't do that much damage, can it, since it's limited? Only a small amount of water will evaporate, and then it's over. Moisture won't keep coming over a longer period. I think the moisture that comes while the concrete cures will then dry out. Or is that enough to cause damage? It won't reach the laminate floor since there's plastic in between. It should be the chipboard that's under the concrete then.
It is partly the plastic that can be a problem because the concrete moisture cannot be aired out through it.
I myself just lifted about 2 sqm of plastic mat that had been loosely lying on a concrete basement floor for 4 years. There was a clear edge of moisture and black mold exactly where the mat had been. Smells (literally) awful in the entire basement now.
I myself just lifted about 2 sqm of plastic mat that had been loosely lying on a concrete basement floor for 4 years. There was a clear edge of moisture and black mold exactly where the mat had been. Smells (literally) awful in the entire basement now.
