Advice on a floor for a stable renovation

[Trevor]

I am renovating a stable (5.5 metres wide) which has a concrete floor across two thirds of its width with the final third being a mix of rubble and sand.  The existing concrete floor is made of two equal strips - the strip in the middle of the stable being 70mm higher than the strip by the entrance and neither has a dpc.  The floor to wooden lintel height at the entrance is 2.05m.

Does anyone have advice on the best way to provide a level and damproof floor?  Is it really necessary to dig up all that concrete to achieve what we want?  We are prepared to concede a little on the 2.05m at the entrance.

All advice will be welcome as we are scratching our heads on the best way to proceed with this.

Thanks,

Trevor

[Alcazar]

Well, I'm no expert, but I'd say you have TWO major probs, and one minor.

Taking the minor first, you could probably live with the difference in floor levels, but what about any guests, or visitors? In older people, a 70mm drop can cause broken bones etc[:(]

Now the major probs:

1. 2.05 m head room isn't really enough to put in lighting, even low profile fluorescents would be worryinly close to head height, especially for anyone over 6 foot[*-)]

2. The dpc bit would worry me enormously. If I were you, I'd bite the bullet, and start again from lower, with a proper dpc, more headroom, and a level floor.

We have done similar with a barn extension/conversion. The only problem now is that heavy rain can find it's way through the base of the walls and pool on the floor, but we have plans to stop it happening by lowering and grading the outside level, new waterproof concrete foundations, better drainage etc.

Alcazar

[napoleon]

Agree with Alcazar about starting from scratch and making the whole floor level and well constructed. I assumed that the low 2.05m was only at the entrance and the remainder of the stable had better headroom.

If you hire a decent breaker for just one day you will be amazed at how easy it is to destroy the original floor. Some or all of the debris could be used as hardcore but your main chore would be to remove sufficient material to maintain adequate headroom after the job is completed. Apart from levelling the floor, it will be much easier to damp proof the floor and maybe insulate it. Don't waste time and effort making a half-hearted attempt to renovate the original - you won't be happy with the result!

                                         Alistair

[La Guerriere]

You may also find that the original part concrete flooring is not very thick. You probably haven't got a proper hard-core base and 4 inches plus of concrete. In a stable it may only be a couple of inches of concrete on top of compacted soil, and will come up rather easily. If you tried to extend the concrete there will always be a dodgy bit at the joint between old and new and the DPC will probably fail there anyway.

 

 

[Trevor]

No, headroom inside is not a problem it's 3m+, the 2.05m was at the entrance.

I can see that most recommend digging up the existing concrete and starting from scratch, which I probably new would be the responses but I didn't want to miss out on other brilliant ideas that might save a bit of time and effort - screeding over etc.  Mind you, after wielding my trusty 10lbs sledgehammer and knocking down in excess of 20 horse boxes built of rendered breeze block my muscles should be up to removing the concrete floor if I have to!!!!  (after they have recovered a bit of course....)

Thanks,

Trevor

[BIG MAC]

Hi Trevor,

 

Another Trevor here (Heaven help us!) I have a similar plan for conversion of my Cave to a kitchen.

Plan is to excavate to reduced level (Headroom is a problem we have 2.2 metres want 2.5) we intend to rake out and repair stone walls as required (Looks like lime mortar eeek!) then install egg box type damp proofing which stands off the wall but allows the passage of moisture (very important to do this as old stone walls allowed to dry out to much and crumble away) we will then place and compact hardcore about 250mm will be all we can get in because we don't want to undermine the footings, this will be blinded with about 50mm of soft sand prior to recieving heavy guage DPM which will be taped to the eggbox, we will then install steel fabric set on support chairs to allow us to cast a 150mm concrete slab (The slab will have a small gutter formed all the way around to a small sump which will eventually have a sump pump installed) we will then install a breather membrane (Tyvek or similar) prior to installing MF studwork ready to recieve insulation and moisture resistant plasterboard, this we hope will give us the best solution to our problem using low tech methods but hopefully achieving the right result at minimal cost (Bit concerned at the 750mm excavation though and that due to this we may have to forego installing Polystyrene insulation (unless we can use it instead of sand not sure if that is allowed)...anyways enough for now just sharing some thoughts...good luck!