How long for 8-10cm concrete floor to dry before laying engineered wood and tiles

[JugglingChaotically]

Having basement done - it's not been easy.
Now concrete floor over wet underfloor heating.

It's 8-10cm thick.
We want part of the basement tiled, most in wood.
How long does it need to dry before we lay the tiles and the wood?
Please don't say weeks or months - we really really need to move back and wave goodbye to our builders

I dont know if it applies in your case or not - but my builder shocked me hugely a couple of weeks ago when he said rule of thumb is 1mm per day - so in our case with 10cm/100mm...yes, another 3 months.

I asked on here for same reason as you & was told to just use it but have floir laid after 3 months. Luckily it's a replacement attic, so most of the stuff is going on shelves, but I sympathise hugely!

I have heard that breathable floors like some vinyls are ok but I don't think that I will chance it.

??

Get a humidity meter of amazon for about £15.

From bitter experience you need to wait until moisture levels are under four %, anything you can do to take moisture out the basement will help, think ventilation, dehumidifyer and running the heating to drive the water into into the atmosphere.

You could seal the floor at about 8% and make sure the contractor uses a vapour proof membrane under the wood floor, this was our ultimate route as it was all taking too fecking long.

Thanks for that
The UF heating is not connected yet and they want me to order the floor.
Suspect they will hurry up with heating if they know it will speed things up!
How long did yours take to get there?

Bought the meter, thanks.

Gozo - thought of 3 months makes me feel quite sick

Edna - how long did yours take?

Should get to 8% in about six weeks depending on the subfloor mix, being a basement it will also depend on the ventilation. With dry weather get as much air thru the roon as you can.

Word of warning, you need evidence that the underfloor heating is holding pressure before committing to fitting the wood floor. The sealing coat and membrane mean that a leak may take years to show except for the system constantly needing topping up.

We had no evidence of a leak under the floor except for falling pressure, three years later and a £25k insurance claim makes you a bit of an expert in these things.

That sounds seriously grim.
We have had to strip ours out once already thanks to now ex builders.
I think our new builders were planning to lay our floor after 2 weeks.
I've said heating to be up and running and have bought a humidity meter.
Will make sure the heating is holding pressure too - thanks for the warning as I was so focused on the drying I'd forgot abut that!

I think drying time for screed floors depends on the type of screed that's been put down. Ours ws put down in January (750mm) and it was a type that had fillers and various other additives (pre-mixed) and we were told it would be 30 days before the U/F heating could be switched on. It was one of the faster drying screeds but the plasterer moaned that it was a real bitch to work with and he wasn't over happy with the finish (bit of a perfectionist).

The heating engineer came back to help commission the U/F heating as he had to show us how the controller works. He'd already pressure tested it before. He told us that the system had to be warmed up slowly at the manifold, and we should raise it by 5 degrees at weekly intervals up to 55.

We've also gone for an engineered wood floor. After all the faff and waiting (we'd have been finished a month ago if we'd gone for rads), I definitely think the U/F heating is worth it - the room is such a lovely temperature!

We were told 1mm a day too by our builder. In the end we went for a suspended timber floor rather than a concrete slab so it wasn't an issue for us.

Arya - I had no idea it was such a faff.
Marmite - if it's that long I will go crazy. Had no idea a suspended timber floor was an option. Wish I had!

I know the project has been a long and drawn-out one that you just want to finish, but I think it would be a mistake to rush this. You can move in and use the floor as normal. Get the builders to come back or more realistically get someone else to fit the floor in three months or so.

That should have read 75mm rather than 750mm .

Keen to fit cupboards too for the utility. Would you wait to do that also?
And to tile the loo floor?
The thought of another 3 months after everything else ........

We are currently waiting for concrete to dry before we put down flooring.The flooring man came out and used a damp meter and after 2 weeks it was still too wet, even with heating on.

The risk is that the new floor will buckle and that did happen to my brother.

Could you consider moving in and doing the floor at a later stage? It's a pain but at least you are in your house. We will have our floor done in a few weeks which means moving furniture but it will eventually get done.

Newstart - yes, we will have to.
Not sure what to do re tiles and utility.
Can I at least get the cupboards into the utility? Then tile runs them instead of under? Several DC so lots of washing - so need a washer and drier.
If I can't tile the loo then they can't fit the basin, loo etc.
Do you have furniture in the room(s)? More storage costs would be grim.

Thanks for advice re meter. It's 13% at the moment
Hoping it drops quickly.......
Anyone any idea how long it may take to get from there to 6%?