How we identify a concrete slab and what it's hiding
It sounds obvious, but the first job is confirming what's actually under the old covering. In older Fife properties we sometimes find a concrete slab poured over an even older timber floor, or a screed layer that's delaminating from the slab beneath it. We lift a corner, check for a hollow sound when tapped, and take a moisture reading before we quote anything with confidence.
What goes wrong if prep is skipped
- Adhesive fails to cure properly and lifts within months, especially with vinyl and LVT.
- Laminate and engineered boards cup or peak at joints once ambient moisture moves through an unsealed slab.
- Underlay compresses unevenly over high spots, leaving audible flex underfoot.
- New floor coverings trap residual moisture and start smelling musty within a year.
Finishes that suit a slab, and ones that don't
A sound, dry, flat slab is a good base for glue-down LVT, engineered wood floated or glued, and most rigid-core SPC products. Solid hardwood is generally not recommended directly onto a slab because of its sensitivity to moisture movement, so we'd normally steer that towards a suspended timber floor or a proper battened system instead.
Fife reality: Glenrothes and Duloch new-town slabs
New-town developments around Glenrothes (KY6) and newer estates in Duloch were built on modern ground-bearing slabs with a damp-proof membrane cast in, which generally test dry quickly. Older 1960s-70s slabs in the same towns can still carry higher residual moisture than expected decades on, particularly where an extension has been added without matching the original membrane detail.
Levelling and repair options
- Localised patch repair with a levelling compound for minor dips and old fixing holes.
- Full self-levelling latex screed where flatness is out across a whole room.
- Grinding down high spots left by old tile adhesive or screed ridges before compound goes on.
What we'll tell you honestly
If a slab tests wet or the surface is badly contaminated with old adhesive, we'll say so before you commit to a floor type, because remedial work adds time and cost that's worth knowing about upfront rather than discovering once fitting is underway.