Floor

but if any damp gets in wont the hardboard disintegrate?

One option is to use a latex floor leveling compound to fill the small holes and dings. You can do that very easily with a trowel/float etc.

If you want to go for sheet material, a ply of similar thickness to the hardboard would be a better and more solid bet.

To restore balance to the world Samantha Booth wrote in g5drht$gv9$ snipped-for-privacy@registered.motzarella.org

Laybond screedmaster smoothing compounds

Chris

Fine that Sammy,around the perimiter of the room lay down some plastic sheeting about a foot wide just in case there is any damp areas.

Difficult to get the edges flush.

Have you thought about self leveling floor compound?

If there is no great difference in levels, just a rough pitted surface, a thin coat would be ideal.

Yup, another vote for that. Make up a long wood spreader if needs be - a bit shorter than the narrow room dimension. Mix the lot, chuck it down and drag it across the room with the wood. No need to fuss it too much, once roughly in place it will smooth itself out.

No need for making anything up,just chuck it down and use a sweep brush to push it down the room. The only problem with SLC is if it becomes too thin a layer in parts it cracks.

ok, but a new broom is probably more expensive than a bit of 2x1" ;-)

Latex ones are usually ok down to a couple of mm IME.

Dear Sam I would avoid using any form of cellulosic (ex-wood based) material such as hardboard in this kind of location. It will be prone to rotting. Chris

Dear Sam I would avoid using any form of cellulosic (ex-wood based) material such as hardboard in this kind of location. It will be prone to rotting. Chris

How long do you think?