Parquet removal from concrete

[luke45]

Hello,

I've stupidly installed a floating laminate floor (quick step) over parquet, which has subsequently buckled. I thought I had been thorough in my research, clearly I had not.

I've removed the laminate, fibreboard underlay and plastic sheet DPM. I've started trying to remove the parquet but with hammer and chisel it is beyond my physical ability to completely remove a 32sqm floor. I've seen people use a long handled tool, or a flat shovel, or a power tool, but I know when I am beaten.

The parquet does come up okay, underneath is a layer of bitumen and what appears to be paper soaked in bitumen. Some of the paper remains stuck to the floor. When the paper does come up, the concrete subfloor is visible underneath the swirls of bitumen.

Please can anyone recommend a company that will complete the removal of the parquet?

The house was built in 1969, which is apparently after the 1965 regulation change stating it must be build with a DPM. There is bare concrete under the kitchen countertops. Do I need to get the moisture content of the concrete tested to check for a sub-concrete DPM?

I'm hoping to install timbermate excel and re lay the laminate. Can you install the timbermate underlay over the sticky bitumen residue? What about the paper? The concrete appears flat and level, but cannot check yet as need the parquet removed first.

Please help! Any advice greatly appreciated

 

[luke45]

Images of floor attached.

Thanks!!!

 

[Belboz]

Suggest re-posting this in FLOORS, STAIRS and LOFTS.

This isn't really the correct place for your topic and you'll get more answers in FLOORING.

 

[luke45]

Thanks! Will do.

 

[johnny2007]

Can I ask why you're destroying an original parquet floor that could be restored with some cheap and nasty laminate that will swell as soon as you spill a drop of water on it?
That parquet could be sanded and varnished/stained to regain its former glory.

 

[luke45]

Hi Johnny,

Valid question, when we first found the floor under the carpet we did seriously consider about sanding and restoring it, but we really don't like the way it looks.

In the end, we've had a specialist round who's suggested filling the holes with F ball stopgap 1200 self leveller and putting carpet on top. That's the route we're going down. Just need to ensure we use a breathable underlay.

If someone else wants to restore the floor later, I will leave the blocks I have removed with the property, the vast majority is still in good condition and stuck down well to the floor.

Lesson learned, I won't be attempting this sort of work in future. It's a real shame as the finished laminate floor did look very neat and served us well for a year before it all went wrong!

 

[johnny2007]

I convinced a couple to restore their original parquet floor rather than cover it up with laminate.
The husband wasn't happy with the idea because it was costing him a whole £150 more.
But when it was finished his wife ordered him to give me an extra £50 for the good advice.
Hand sanded the all area, glued back some lose wood and painted all with 4 coats of ronseal diamond hard dark oak floor paint.
I wish I had found that parquet in my house!

 

[Doggit]

A bit late in replying, but I think you may be looking at things from the wrong perspective. The bituman acts as a DPM, and was working, otherwise the parquet flooring would have had problems. The laminate lasted a year, so if there was a damp problem, this should have shown up earlier. You didn't upload any pictures of the laminate, so that makes things difficult to judge. Did you store the laminate for a couple of weeks, and allow it to acclimatize, and did you allow a gap around the laminate, and put in the cork expansion strips, as without these two factors, expansion of the laminate would have caused it to buckle. The pictures suggest you took off the skirting board, and if the floor/wall were damp, then moisture may have crept up round the edges. Have you had anyone test the moisture levels with a meter to determine if you do have a damp problem - which I suspect you don't, as the parquet floor looks fine. There are DMP membranes you can get for laminate flooring that would have handled any damp issues from the floor, but not excess moisture from the air if the house isn't properly ventilated. I've taken parquet up with a Wickes floor scraper, and it can be easy, but scraping the bituman off the afterwards may be more of an issue, and you'd then need to level the floor afterwards before you can then put down the carpet, but I'm not sure if there is such a thing as a breathable underlay, or if you'd even want one if you're convinced there's damp coming through.

 

[luke45]

Hi doggit, thanks for the reply.

The laminate didn't appear to have any damp issues, and the parquet certainly didn't either. The laminate was acclimated, fit with an expansion gap and no cork. The gap was still in present when the parquet buckled. I should have posted a picture of the buckled parquet. But that was the first thing I checked, I took off the skirting but the gap was intact all around.
No signs of damp on the floor itself or walls but the flooring specialist took a reading through the bitumen with a moisture gauge and it was high, though it was just a simple cheap two pronged gauge with 5 lights on.

I had installed a plastic DPM sheet on the parquet, under the laminate, I suspect that is what caused the problem as it trapped the moisture trying to escape from the parquet in the hottest part of summer which caused it to swell.
The flooring specialist laid f ball stopgap 1200 in the gaps in the parquet and has laid carpet with breathable backing and breathable underlay on top of the parquet. The previous owner had similar carpet and underlay on the parquet for years with no issue so I'm hoping to never see it again. Fingers crossed!

 

[m0t]

I feel your pain.

My mum wanted her living room carpeting and I had to take up her parquet floor. I used a long bar with a screwdriver wedged in the end. The bar was from a hydraulic car jack,