Drying out a concrete floor

John83

Hi,

I had a leak in a buried pipe in the living room about a month ago. There was a laminate floor down at the time. It was a while before I realised there was a leak until I saw the signs in the flooring.

So I lifted the floor (most of it is ruined) and the plumber fixed the leak. The problem I have now is that the water basically covered the entirety of the concrete floor. It had nowhere to go except spread across the room and soak the concrete for about two weeks.

I've had a dehumidifier running non stop for the past three weeks and while it's collecting loads of water, the floor is not drying out completely. There seems to be a lot of, what seems like, old carpet glue on the concrete and I'm wondering is that whats stopping the concrete from breathing and drying out. I'm not even sure is it carpet glue, but it's definitely not concrete.

Would I be best to try and scrape it up or remove it somehow? And if so, how do I do that?

Thanks!

Cerco

Afaik when drying out a new house they seal the doors and windows and run the dehumidifier. I think it also helps to heat the area while dehumidifying.

If you don't get definitive answers then try the building & construction forum.
I assume you have already mopped up as much as possible and laid out newspapers to absorb any surface water.

John83

Thanks for the reply. There is no surface water anymore. It's just the concrete is still damp to touch.

I've been searching online to see how to remove old carpet glue. There seems to be different reports on using products and scraping. I'm assuming it's not helping the drying process.

gutteruu

Any carpet/flooring shop should have a moisture meter you can check the floor with or buy one online fairly cheap. Appearance wouldn't be a good barometer IMO. Also as cerco said, dehumidifiers only work if you seal the room properly including airvents and chimneys.

John83

gutteruu wrote: »

Any carpet/flooring shop should have a moisture meter you can check the floor with or buy one online fairly cheap. Appearance wouldn't be a good barometer IMO. Also as cerco said, dehumidifiers only work if you seal the room properly including airvents and chimneys.

I called into a carpet supplier yesterday and they said that it wasn't glue that was on the floor. Its a skim that was on the concrete.

The room isn't sealed which is an issue. How would I go about sealing the room? Would duct tape around the door frames help? There is a stove installed so it's pretty easy to seal that off.

gutteruu

John83 wrote: »

I called into a carpet supplier yesterday and they said that it wasn't glue that was on the floor. Its a skim that was on the concrete.

The room isn't sealed which is an issue. How would I go about sealing the room? Would duct tape around the door frames help? There is a stove installed so it's pretty easy to seal that off.

Duct tape up vents, towels under doors and try keep doors closed. It would really be beneficial to get a hold of a moisture meter. You might not need to be drying out floor or it might be a long way from dry. Trouble is you won't know for sure.