DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi everyone,

First time on here, hope you can help.

We're about to hire a company to lay laminate in the living room. The issue we have is that we removed an old fireplace with a concrete base, which has crumbled to dust and rubble with holes in some places. The dimensions of the area are 130 x 71cm. It is an old tenement flat and we have neighbours downstairs.

We need the area to be stable and be able to bear significant weight.

The company say we should cover this with floor levelling compound but we want further advice about

1) Whether the area will be strong enough, i.e. what is underneath, what would be supporting the weight?

and

2) Whether we could cause problems for the flat below if we just pour the compound on top of the existing concrete, dust and rubble.

Really unsure about this, hope you can help!

If there was a concrete base there before, then it should easily be able to support the leveling compound. It should only need a thin layer, which won't add much weight. It will be less heavy than a person standing there, or a large piece of furniture, so it shouldn't affect the flat below.