Visual Observations
• At first floor level, adjacent to the stair well is a small airing cupboard with a water tank. The floor in this area was lifted to reveal a soft grey material, which on first impression was thought to be a floor screed.
• With the aid of a chisel, the soft grey material was easily broken away to reveal a water pipe buried within it.
• The depth to the bottom of the copper pipe was approximately 30mm.
• Below was a further pipe.
• It is believed that the two pipes are the flow and return to the water tank located within the airing cupboard.
• The depth of the screed is therefore most likely approximately 50mm in depth.
• The ceiling of the ground floor reception room was also exposed in one location to reveal a smooth concrete surface, of different colouration and texture to the soft grey material observed within the airing cupboard.
Figure 1 – Exposed Screeded Slab Surface – Airing Cupboard
Conclusions/Recommendations
Based on our visual observations, it appears that the floor structure is of reinforced concrete construction. It was not possible to conclusively determine if the floor slab was of precast or in-situ construction. Based on the surface finish to the soffit area exposed, it would suggest that the floor slab is most likely of pre-cast concrete construction.
To the top surface of the concrete floor slab is quite clearly a screed of approximately 50mm in depth, which has services within it as was seen in the airing cupboard.
We understand that you wish to run further new services within the screed layer. We can confirm that this will not affect the structural performance of the concrete floor slab. However, it should be ensured that the screed is broken out carefully (not with an angle girder or similar) to ensure that the concrete surface of the floor slab is not damaged or cut into.