Thursday April 28, 2011 at 3:55pm
After the hard work of building the footings and dwarf wall or concrete base for your new DIY conservatory, the next thing to think about is what are you going to use as flooring. The options are many and various. You could be laying ceramic floor tiles, laminate flooring, carpet or lino - yes, some people with small children still use it! The key thing here is to get the concrete floor as flat, level and as smooth as possible.
Also, make certain that you know where the finished floor level will be. As most of our DIY conservatories are fitted with French doors that open out, this is not too much of an issue, but if you wanted a single side door that opens in, make sure that the door will have enough clearance to open after the floor is completed and the covering is down.
The best way to achieve a perfectly smooth and flat floor is to use self leveling compound. This is poured onto the concrete and spread out into all of the corners evenly, and then left. It does as it says on the tin - it self levels. Make sure that you keep well away from it for at least forty eight hours to allow it time to go off completely. It should be added that this would normally be done once the conservatory is up and watertight. Then the main thing is to allow plenty of ventilation during and after the initial drying time. A conservatory base can easily take up to a month to dry out completely, and you should be aware of this especially if you have furniture in it, as condensation will be a problem. The only cure to condensation is adequate ventilation.
Nest issue, erecting the conservatory....stay tuned...