Karndean & Levelling Compound

[Bon]

Hi all,

We’re part way through a Utility Room project and have had a local company round to quote for some Karndean flooring to match our existing Kitchen/Dining Room.

The guy that came round was very concerned with the levelling compound that the builder had used as in his opinion it was unlikely to be suitable for use with Karndean. They’ve also applied the compound over part of what was a painted garage floor which I’m told is even worse and he doubts they would be able to warranty the new install (unless we went for loose-lay but then that won’t match what we already have) as he’s concerned about the adhesive sticking.

I’ve done some digging (literally in the skip on our drive) and recovered an empty packet of the compound which is Bond-It “Level Master”

I was just wondering if any of you amazing people on here could ad an opinion? I’m getting someone else to come and look at it as I really don’t want to:

A - Subject my wife to the “misery” of a mid-matched floor

B - Dig out the levelling compound already put down

...unless I HAVE to!

Thanks in advance.

 

[dazlight]

Did he prime the floor before he did the smoothing compound ?
Had the sub floor got a damp proof membrane under it ?

 

[Bon]

Hi, thanks for your post.

I’m not sure if he primed the floor (I doubt it) but I will ask him.

It’s a 3 year old house so I’m fairly sure it will have a DPM

 

[crazydaze]

Hi, thanks for your post.

I’m not sure if he primed the floor (I doubt it) but I will ask him.

It’s a 3 year old house so I’m fairly sure it will have a DPM

The 'painted garage floor' may well not have a DPM underneath, it's very important to check this for starters.

 

[Bon]

It’s an integral garage so I was under the impression the DPM covered the entire ground floor

 

[crazydaze]

It’s an integral garage so I was under the impression the DPM covered the entire ground floor

First thing is to be absolutely sure, anything onwards from there will be reliant upon the subfloor being dry and free of residual moisture.

 

[Bon]

How do I go about doing that? It’s a common slab so surely it will have a DPM across all of it otherwise moisture could get up through the garage slab and into the house???

Second opinion came round today and confirmed it so I’ve started scraping up the compound that’s been put down

 

[dazlight]

If 3 years old it should have one if connected to house but any decent Floorlayer should have a tramex or mms2 moisture reader.
You need to remove the old compound and grind the paint off.
They do tests.

 

[Bon]

OK cheers. It’s coming up fairly easy over the painted bit. Just a ball-ache having to do it when we told the builder what type of floor we were having!!

 

[Bon]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Got it all up on Thursday night. It just lifted in places proving that it hadn't adhered to the slab properly.