we bought a new house and a room had a cement floor and now my parents put floating floor over top. now we're starting to smell a musty smell and we have asked some people what to do and they said 1) paint cement with sealer then recover with floating floor ( remove floor first) 2) air exchanger 3) put vents on the floor when the windows are closed it doesn't smell but when the windows are open it really stinks so we know that it's under the floor and we are told that the cement is starting to sweat. my question: what do i do and what do i treat it with? thanks!
new house? get in touch with the builder, if no joy then contact nhbc who give building certificate for advice
You got water, moisture under there, water must be coming thorugh the slab. You must remove the floor, clean the slab with bleach to kill mold and mildew, seal the concrete and then put the moisture proof paper and floor back down.
There should be plastic under the concrete. But the builder was probably too lazy or cheap or stupid to do that. So now the smell of damp earth will forever try to migrate through the floor. The perfect answer is to remove the floor and the concrete and lay down 3 mil plastic and repour concrete and relay the floor. Failing that, I like the 'seal the concrete' concept. Try to find a product that is a vapor barrier. The original BIN is a vapor barrier. With luck the smell will be sealed out also.
