What Is Magnesite Flooring?

What Is Magnesite Flooring?

If your apartment block was built during the 1920s and 1980s, it probably has Magnesite Flooring, and it can be pretty damaged by now. This can result in serious damage to the structure of your building and a risk of collision if not taken care of properly. If this is your case, the following information below will come in handy.

Magnesite flooring is commonly found in homes built between the 1920s and 1980s and consists of Magnesium Oxychloride, a white asbestos material, placed on top of concrete floors that later resulted in brownish-coloured finishes. In essence, Magnesite Oxychloride solutions featured several fillers like sawdust and asbestos and were typically applied in 10-25mm thick layers, sometimes more than one. It should be noted that it doesn’t always contain ASBESTOS, but regardless you must be careful removing it as it does also contain silica dust.

The thing with this material is that it is very prone to dampness and suffering alterations due to such, so if moisture was present in the environment it was very likely that the flooring would be damaged. Chlorides from the magnesite may migrate into the concrete below, corroding any reinforcement as well as gas and water pipes, provoking serious harm to the structure of your floor which could end in expensive repairs.

Magnesite Flooring isn’t used anymore, but because it was present in a lot of older buildings, it means that floor removal contractors could come across it, so knowing how to deal with it is very important.

Magnesite was used quite a lot in the flooring industry in the past and it is the properties that are often thirty or more years old. These older properties could still have it present. Magnesite Flooring screeds were predominantly used in industrial buildings as it was known to be resistant to oil spillages, but are also often found in unit blocks and apartments.

Because Magnesite Flooring is water-soluble, it will return to its previous state should it be exposed to enough water. Magnesite Flooring is also quite flexible, meaning that it is not suitable to be overlaid with a smoothing compound, making it unsuitable to be used with all types of floor covering.

Although Magnesite Flooring was quite a popular subfloor product many years ago, the introduction of more modern, safer, and more durable subfloor products has meant that Magnesite Flooring has fallen from favour.

When building contractors do discover a flooring screed that contains Magnesite, the chances are that it was installed many years ago and is now showing definite signs of wear and tear. The best thing to do in this case would be to carefully remove the Magnesite Flooring and lay a new floor in its place.

Magnesite Flooring Removal will take some time, but laying a new damp-proof membrane and a smoothing compound capable of offering a deep fill to replace the Magnesite, will mean the subfloor is far more suitable for modern use and will remove the risk of Concrete Cancer damaging your subfloor.

Magnesite is often mixed with concrete making it extremely difficult to remove even with the strongest team and specialized heavy demolition equipment such as a hydraulic jackhammer.

The dust that is released from Magnesite Flooring when it is removed can be extremely dangerous to breathe in as well, making specialized safety equipment a MUST!

It has been commonly used in homes built in the 20s-80s. Just like many other asbestos-containing building materials, it was a useful chemical for a range of materials but unfortunately, time has developed it into a health hazard, as well as a hazard to the building structure as it can cause Concrete Cancer.

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