How do I dry my floor ?

[CremeFresh]

I have had water leaking into my conservatory probably since it was built. I bought out house with it already here. The floor tiles have been removed but the concrete underneath is soaking wet . How am I going to get it to dry ? The builder doing the work said it would be OK to retile without the floor drying properly. Any ideas ?

Hire an industrial fan and dehumidifier pack? If you tile over when it's wet it'll probably just take longer to dry out and there's a risk it could go mouldy I would think.

it depends what standard the conservatory was built to. They do not have to meet the same building regulations as a house, they are treated more like an outdoor greenhouse or shed.

If the floor is built with a damp-proof membrane under it, and the walls have a DPC, then it will, eventually but very slowly, dry out like it did when the concrete was first poured. This might take months. You will have to ventilate the conservatory very well so the water vapour can escape, and close the doors so that the cold and damp do not drift into the house. it will dry out sooner with the sun on it. Nominally, a well-ventilated concrete floor takes 1 day per 1mm of thickness. Your floor might be 150mm - 250mm thick.

If the floor does not have a DPM, it will never be dry.

You can tile onto damp concrete, in the same way that you can tile a garden path. Ensure the tiler knows that it is wet. The tiler may insist that he will not guarantee the work unless the floor meets some standard for water content. I don't know how this is done but I would follow the tiler's guidance. Your builder might want to get finished and move on quickly.

p.s.

you know when a room has dried out. The windows are no longer streaming with water in the mornings.

Thanks all for the replies , I put some fan heaters in there and the concrete did mostly dry. It does have Dpc and the builder seems to know what he's doing so fingers crossed I won't have any more problems.