Bitumen Floor

[petern12]

I own a property which has a concrete floor with a bitumen coating for the damp course. I had a flood at the property a couple of years ago. to cut a long story short the insurance appointed builders who took up the t+g boards which were laid over the bitumen. as they ripped them up they damaged the bitumen. needless to say they didn't repair it but laid new boards over the damaged bitumen. sure enough the floor started lifting. they came back and removed all the flooring and i haven't seen them since. the insurance have give me the go ahead to have the work redone. my question is i don't want to rip the concrete up and dig down. so if I have a bitumen layer done, which has been suggested by a surveyor, do i need to put a visqueen dpc down first. I am looking at at least a 20mm layer which will meet up with the slate bed dpc around the house. your thoughts please.

Thank you

 

[KenGMac]

petern12, hi.

To begin, I work in the Insurance industry, as a loss Adjuster [don't tell anyone else on the Board PLEASE]

Lets take a step back here?

You had an Insurable "event" affect your home, a claim was made, the claim [from what can be determined here is that] the "claim" was accepted by the Insurer, so far so good.

The insurer appointed an "Insurers appointed, - Preferred Contractor - "

This "Contractor" has in effect "damaged" your home.

Have a thought about telling the Insurer to repair the "damage" and as the damaged DPC has worked for as long as the house has been in existence you need an assurance from the Insurer that any "repair undertaken by the Insurers will last as long as the original" with the "proviso" that if the repair fails then the Insurer will return and undertake a repair.

As I see it [ and yes I employ the same "tactics"] get the Insured [ YOU] to go for their own Contractor and "hey- Presto" I as a Loss Adjuster am " off the hook"

Why, because you as the Person who has -Instructed- and "employed" a contractor, NOT THE INSURER, are responsible for the actions of the Contractor, if YOUR Contractor makes a mess of the work the Insurer is not held responsible, YOU are because you appointed them.

Bottom line, get the Insurer to undertake a repair. given the damage, this could be a "technical problem" and if there is a problem with the repair, the INSURER, not YOU will have to repair [for a second time !]

And last but not least, keep records, contact your insurer, preferably by e-mail that way you have a record

Hope the above makes sense?

Ken

 

[petern12]

Hi Ken That makes perfect sense. I also work for a lot of the major insurers and understand exactly what you have said. Yes they have asked me to get 3 quotes which I have. Only one company has said he needs to dig down and do a proper job. problem with this is runs into the thousands (10) The other 2 have said they will flood the floor with bitumen 20mm approx let it dry and then finish off with laminated flooring. This was also recommended by an independent surveyor we had out. What I need to understand is how best this should be done. Thank you

 

[petern12]

Hi Ken,I spoke to technical at Ardex what a great service they offer. Free great advice. The guy advised either remove all the bitumen and then use the Ardex products latex self leveller / dpm etc or discuss with a company who deals with bitumen asphalt to save having to remove all the old bitumen. Central asphalt advised they would lay a building paper then fibreglass and then topped off with 20mm bitumen. He advised 2hrs approx to lay the floor and then it can be walked on within a couple of hours. I am going with this method as it means less disruption to the house. Thank you for your advice and thank you to Ardex Technical

 

[KenGMac]

petern12, Hi again.

I must admit I had never heard of this product?

Googled it and it looks OK

I can see what is going on, a tough tenacious film, the Glass fibre then a top of bitumen, the glass fibre will not rot and act as a good base for the asphalt as well as forming a break between the old flooring material and the new.

Hope all goes well?

Lots of luck.

Ken.