I’m planning on ripping out an existing wood floor that is sitting on soil, excavating down a few inches to pour a concrete slab, and then putting flooring over the concrete. The whole mess is below grade, so you can imagine why the wood floor must be removed.
I’ve read that I need a barrier between the foundation walls and the new slab and between the slab and the new floor. The current space is finished with plaster walls, windows, dividing walls, a closet, etc. Will I have to take out the dividing walls to pour the new slab? If not, how do I support the dividing walls during the pour? What other gotchas will I have to deal with? (Like getting the soil out of the below-grade room to the outside through windows?)
Replies
There have been lots of discussions here about wood flooring over concrete. Click on the Advanced Search button, near the top of the index frame on the left. Enter the words
wood over concrete
in the text box. When I tried it just now, it returned 500 hits, which means there are more than that. It shows 50 at a time in the index frame, with a link to the Next 50 at the end of the list. If the first 500 messages don't answer your questions, you can sort the messages by Newest First or Oldest First and use the Updated From: and To: parameters to split the messages into chunks of fewer than 500. Or you could try limiting the search by adding floor or flooring to the search string.
Also, give it time. The search was taking nearly a minute when I did it.
>> I've read that I need a barrier between the foundation walls and
>> the new slab and between the slab and the new floor.
A moisture barrier between the wall and the slab is probably a good idea. WRT the barrier between the slab and the flooring, since you're pouring a new slab, it would probably make more sense to put the moisture barrier under the slab. Insulation under the slab would also be nice.
>> Will I have to take out the dividing walls to pour the new slab?
>> If not, how do I support the dividing walls during the pour?
There are ways to shore up the interior walls while you work on the floor, but unless you're really fond of the existing walls, I don't think any of them would be worth the hassle.
>> What other gotchas will I have to deal with?
While you're thinking about getting the dirt out, also think about getting the concrete in.
Also, a stable floor will require a stable base, which may require more than removing just enough dirt to make room for the slab. Ideally you'd like to remove all the soil containing organic material and lay down a layer of sharp sand.
Not a gotcha, necessarily, but now would be the time to think about in-floor radiant heat.
Another alternative would be to dig out a crawl space, seal it against moisture diffusion, and install a wood framed floor.
good to see you back Dunc!He should be using a moistop under the crete too so it doesn't wick water up through
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