Putting wooden floor on possibly moist concrete..

Folks,

I bought one of these old council houses (60y old) in drimnagh. I learnt there was no damp proofing available and done at that time of building.
I've got a concrete floor with timber on joists over it on the groundfloor. I'm not sure if/how moist the concrete is (how do I best determine that?) but either way I figured and from advice I got here, that the best way to go about this is to
-rip out old timer and joists
-put down heavy gauge PVC over concrete as moisture barrier
-put down some radon gas barrier (someone recommended that)
-put down some insulating/sound barrier material
-put down some plywood
-store wood for a couple of days in house for acclimatisation
-put down floor (will probably have this done by professionals)

Does anyone have any views on this, is this the best way to go about it, or do we need to do something else/different?

I'd like to get it right and don't want to end up with warped floorboards or any other unforseeable problems and we dont' mine how much work we have to do, so all advice hugely appreciated!

Some more info, I've taken the carpets up, so what we do actually ahve is timber straight on the concrete, no joists inbetweeen. there is also strips of concrete in the middle of the room, where a former dividing wall was placed. The timber doesn't look too bad, although a bit weathered. I am now wondering though what to do with the bits of concrete in the middle. If I take the boards up and replace with plywood, I'll still have the concrete patches. Will it be sufficient to cover them with the plastic and lay the floor over them (probably 50cm in width). I then would obviously have to try to avoid nailing the boards down over that strip so not to nail through the moisture barrier?
Is that a bad idea or would I have to try and chip away the old concrete strips/wall foundations to make flush with the concrete creed?

Any wisdom anyone?

I cant see much wrong with what you intend to do in your first post. Im a bit lost about the concrete strip you refer to. If I understand it correctly you will have to remove the top of the concrete in order to floor over it

The radon/PVC and sound barrier could all likely be provided by 1 proprietry system. Ring around builders providers.

The suggestion of getting professional to put down the wooden floor ( if laminate ) is maybe a bit off the mark.

These floors are very easy to put down on a good surface. hence it may be better to get a pro to put down you ply wood base as this will be much trickier to get 100% level.

The laminate floors are as easy to put down as the base is good.

Hi guys,
thanks for the advice. I'm planning on putting down solid oak, hence the thought of getting professionals.
The concrete strip, it's just the leftover of the old dividing wall and its about one inch higher than the rest of the floor. The rest of the floor has timber planks on it at the moment, so it's plane with the left-over wall. So when I remove the old wooden floor and put down plywood instead it will be plane again, only there will be that strip of concrete from the old wall. Not sure if that makes more sense now?

I have a similar problem with a new house. The moisture reading is coming above the 5 level (closer to 6) and the flooring guys tell me my options are:
1. Leave floors to dry naturally - with help from heating. Based on how long its taking and the time of year he said it could be as long as 4-5 months.
2. They double up the polythene, and effectively float the floor on top of this. Won't guarantee full back-up if it goes pear-shaped though.
3. Put down some sealant on the concrete floor which will effectively act like "a sheet of glass" and cause no problems. Except for the fact it'll cost €15 sq yd.!!

With 2. or 3. I'll have floors down before Christmas which is appealing. Would anyone have any advice/experience - particularly on the sealing approach?

Thanks...

i dont think radon is a big issue where you are in dublin .

you should go ahead and put down the floor over a plastic membrane but leave out or at least dont glue the last row of timber for a couple of months which will give the floor time to settle.

Boberto, I'd recommend letting the floor dry out before proceeding. That moisture will have to go somewhere.

This might sort you out: http://www.elastilon.com/ . I found out about it here. Lets you float solid wood, which isn't normally a good option, but this way the whole board is glued to the underlay and so the underlay will keep the floor together even when it expands and contracts.

Not cheap at €180 per 20 sq metre retail price in brooks, but looks easy to fit and saves time. Will be doing it myself soon and am anxious to find out how successful it will be. The idea makes sense to me and it could be perfect for your situation as it would allow you to put down 1200 gauge polythene underneath and not have to puncture it. Was there bitumen between your concrete and floorboards? My house in Crumlin had this as a form of dampproofing.

I am getting my solid floors supplied and fitted by the one company and I'm guessing the elastilon option isn't a runner - thanks for the suggestion though.
I'm veering towards getting the damp proof membrane treatment, but unless I'm totally convinced, I'll probably stick it out until the floors are dry enough. Apparently the slowness in drying out is because the floor has a polished screed - great for controlling dust but hampers moisture release apparently.
Incidentally, when trying to find the 'perfect floor', two other companies came out and checked the floors and said they'd be happy to lay a floor there and then. I don't know if the new guys are overly cautious or the others are chancers but I'll err on the side of caution.

Thanks for your replies...