It would be best to have someone look at your issue because it could be multiple things. Flooring installers and restoration experts alike frequently have to deal with moisture problems in flooring. or can we just lay the stone right on the unsealed concrete and then seal the stone and grout? The flooring company came out, they removed flooring from sections that were sweating but no overt leaks found. If I had a hunch you probably see more “wet” concrete during the wet months when compared to the dry months. Home » The Rapid RH® Concrete Moisture Test » Concrete Information & Knowledge Base » Managing Moisture Between the Flooring and the Concrete Slab. I live in Orlando Florida and own a home built in 1979. Rain, snow, groundwater, leaks, increasing water content, and sprinkler systems are all potential sources of free water. Another part of the basement we have a vinyl floor product that interlocks without grout, not sure if it was glued, with no issues. Excess moisture is caused by a number of ways a few being: the hardwood floor is cupping or cracking, you see efflorescence or a white residue on the concrete floor, or the floor over the concrete is blistering or peeling away. Personally, especially if you are going to be installing the finished floor product down, I would want to know the internal relative humidity of the slab. So, the floors are being redone and the slab is being properly leveled. Good luck. We’re hoping draining water away from the house will ultimately dry out the slab. My question is does it need to have a moisture barrier of some sort installed under those laminate planks??? If you have reduced the sources of moisture as much as practical and still have a problem you will probably need to increase ventilation. How to Test a Concrete Floor for Excessive Moisture. Hi Jason. Good luck. At this point we really want to get floors installed but the continuous moisture is a problem. We also had installed all new insulation on the first floor ceiling and walls. I would look to possibly bring out a flooring inspector to evaluate the areas where you have had issues. I eventually got a grout scraper and scrapped for only about 2 mins and water shot up approx 10 inches high for about 5 seconds. Concrete 0-6% This moisture causes condensation on the tile floor above it. The floor was laid in February 2017. What are the warning signs of flooring moisture problems? However, the method of the test may vary depending on the type of flooring you’re dealing with. Thanks for the question. Yet so many installers don’t take this into account. Thanks for the question. Torn vapor retarders can occur in a reckless worksite. Do you have any idea, what could be causing this? There really isn’t a way, that I am aware, to test moisture in the carpet itself. To level out the slab I placed a 6 mil moisture barrier, green 2×4, 1 inch foam insulation between sleepers, then ¾ TG plywood. The signs of moisture problems in flooring will vary from one type of flooring to the next. The house is on a slab in Tampa . If the temperature and relative humidity in the cottage were regulated, this may not be an issue. You want to know if your floor is holding too much moisture well before that. If your home has a crawl space, it is very important that you make sure that it stays dry and free from moisture. I used dehumidifiers to try to dry out the slab, but the results were not uniform and some areas still had an RH 2″ down at 99% and some areas were 25%. We had carpet there for 10 years without an issue. WHEN I PULL BACK THE FLOORING “BLACK WET CONCRETE IS THERE…LOTS OF MOISTURE…WHAT BARRIER DO YOU RECOMMEND I USE WHEN I REMOVE/REPLACE THIS FLOORING? Ventilation can be critical in these instances. Get it as soon as Wed, Dec 9. The water is collecting on top of the moisture barrier but the underside of the plywood is dry to the touch. I’d like to know what we need too look for, and correct as a next step. One issue may be that most will require application directly on top of the slab, not the leveler. The water pooling was evenly found throughout the floor area. Thank you for your valuable resources keep share the information like this…. Have a discussion with a reputable tile shop in your area and see if they handle or know of a grout that may be less susceptible to this type of issue. If your wood flooring is covered by wet rugs, mats, or carpeting, you’ll need to remove them immediately. 3 years ago we removed the original flooring in the basement. It transmits low-frequency signals down into the flooring, which travel back up to register the average moisture content of the entire plank. And we contacted the tile manufacturer; it seems the porcelain tile is creating condensation and it’s finding its way through the grout and our walls. Anyway, do you have any thoughts on this? In the US it is very common to do “repairs” and not complete replacements if it is deemed reasonable by the fitter. Good luck. Any ideas . Hello Jason After reading the posts above, it seems the tile installer should have put down an epoxy resin before setting the tile. Moisture barriers also known as vapor barriers are used to prevent that moisture from coming into contact with your flooring. There will be an airspace under the plywood so the floor temperature should then approximate the ambient air temperature which may then eliminate the dew point problem. Thanks for the questions. The tiles are on concrete slab. Moisture-related damage to the flooring materials is possible. He is also going to pop out a couple of tiles in the living room to see what is going on in regards to the water pooling. Thanks for the question. Thanks , Luis. When they pulled out the hardwood floors, they did a moisture test and the moisture levels was very high. To my surprise I found water puddles under plywood and insulation. We may share your information with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners. Then, a step-by-step process for addressing each problem is presented along with several detailed approaches to solving the problem. Pergo should have a technical hot line that you can call to get the information you desire. it was a shadow but with closer inspection the tiles are turning a dark grey. I don’t want to install tile until I am sure the moisture transmission problem is resolved. The other way to get inaccurate moisture test results is to perform the in situ RH test wrong. Probably we did not install the toilet bowl correctly so water was leaking under the laminate floor, there was no water or moist on the surface of the laminate. It works good for very old concrete floors as well as new ones. Thanks for the comment. If I were to wager, the condensation is appearing when you put something on top of the floor that lessens the concretes ability to “breathe” and therefore the moisture that would normally just escape into the environment, unnoticed, is being collected under the mats/bins. Well, I am positive that it is NOT a ground water issue through my own long term investigation by many different means, i.e. We had new concrete poured for a patio. X220 Moisture-Fix. This usually happens when concrete slabs and the other materials that sweat reach dew point temperature. old vs new, is this just a renovation or was there a catastrophic event that caused the need for the flooring change (flood), I would recommend having a discussion with the contractor about options. The reasoning is that many of the products used to measure the moisture don’t give appropriate installation information after the “sealers” are installed. And, it displays moisture readings to one-tenth of a percent (0.1%) resolution on an easy-to-read digital display. Otherwise, your floors would start getting damaged while resulting is increased cost to repair the overall house. Vinyl flooring can either be glued to the subfloor or it can float on top of it, and either way, moisture underneath it causes problems. Thank you for the question. I would like to understand if this is an issue, before talking to our field manager. To interpret the moisture meter's data, you need to know the acceptable moisture content for the area of the country you're in. We are putting down a floating laminate floor and my husband is the type of person who likes to be super careful about everything. Buckling occurs when the wood flooring actually pulls up from the subfloor, lifting several inches in one or more places. All our Rapid RH sensors and test kits are based on decades of scientific research and technological advances to help each builder and flooring specialist accurately determine the correct concrete RH level for a project’s chosen flooring materials. The layers above and below the concrete slab to prevent water seepage into the slab. Thanks Hi. I would contact NWFA.org and get one of their qualified inspectors to come out and take a look. I hope this helps. Post Reply. I don’t even like walking on it barefoot. The wood has a 25 year warranty, so again I contacted the builder. It can be hard to tell at a glance whether a concrete floor is moisture-compromised. I also saw some mold on the new sheetrock. Or you may see that the flooring installed over the concrete slab is blistering or peeling away. In general, this is a fairly common occurrence, but you should verify your specific situation. Dawn, overnight like that, being honest, I don’t know. ASTM F2170 requires three sensors for the first 1000 square feet and another sensor for each additional 1000 square feet. Also, this only occurs in our Florida room. You may want to start here https://www.nicfi.org/ Doing this would probably at least tell you that the issues are potentially related to moisture in the slab. Help. This page briefly describes moisture sources, moisture movement mechanisms and typical basement moisture problems. Concrete science is still evolving. Good luck. The engineered bamboo flooring as cupping when we moved in and buckled that November. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Under the waterproof vinyl we noticed small amounts of pooling waters in the small slab cracks that we have. Two areas of the floor near the kitchen were cold in temperature and little speckles of water was felt on it. Thank you. One way to determine this would be to measure the surface temperature of the area(s) in question with an infrared thermometer. The moisture on the floors may be dew point condensation. A floor with a white or greyish powdery stain (also called “efflorescence”) likely has excess moisture. Hello Jason, any thoughts regarding my post dated June 16? Simply press the meter’s plate flat against the floor, take a reading, and repeat the process at different spots until you find the moisture pocket. Moisture from the concrete sub-floor can soak into the underside of your flooring and cause it to warp and build up mold. The calcium chloride test is an older method for measuring the moisture level of concrete flooring. Thanks for the questions and I am very sorry about your new house. Thank you Jason. Would this be a foundation issue or the floor not being put down correctly? The flooring company insists I have a leak and won’t repair, but they also never completed a moisture test prior to installing. NOW, A COUPLE OF YEARS LATER, THERE ARE MULTIPLE GRAY AREAS THAT TURN BLACK ALL OVER MY HOUSE. First, I would want to test the concrete to see how high the relative humidity is in the affected area, Second, the areas that you state don’t have a moisture issue, may. So the first thing I want you to address is the sources of moisture. Responsible moisture control (having accurate moisture measurements) starts with the concrete slab. Old plumbing that’s degraded and has leaks presents the same risk. These factors can introduce a lot of moisture variability across the floor slab. On the surface, it is a different story. Not only is the concrete absorbing the water from above, but it’s also taking on the runoff from the areas around it. I would shop around and see if you can get a better price on this. I would look for moisture mitigation products and a few of the bigger players in this space are: Whatever you chose, just verify that it will work against hydrostatic pressure. I am willing to bet this would be your most challenging investigation yet, if you are able to help me out. The Rep thought it was a poorly mixed concrete slab. Im even having a couple tiles de-bonding. Damp and moisture rising through concrete floors, screeds and substrates can be a significant problem for any development. The closer they are to each other, the higher the probability that condensation will form. At first I thought it was a leak from the master bathroom or the windows but no water seems to be coming from either of those two places. we’re running a dehumidifier but yikes – what do we do?? Any thoughts as to what I am experiencing? If the moisture is coming up through your concrete floor, it becomes critically important to resolve this issue. It is not, however, the best test if you are planning to put an epoxy coating on the floor. Ambient conditions can also increase the concrete slab’s water content. They think it maybe condensation from the AC unit from my neighbor below or some sort of plumbing issue from below. They are not rotten, just turning a dark color. They were initially installed floating with a 3mm underlayment. If there is condensation on the underside of the plastic you’ll need to seal the floor for water vapor. No reason to start out behind the eight ball. Good luck. So look, if you want to reduce the moisture that’s coming up through the bathroom, there’s a couple of things I can suggest. I have an attached 3-season porch with a concrete slab installed in 1956, tiled in 1995. He said that we should first call a service to dry the laminate and under it. There are some adhesives that may allow VCT to go to a higher moisture limit. Hi are you recently had a flood in my kitchen a dishwasher pressure line broke and I have tile ceramic that was put over linoleum would it be possible that water would have gotten underneath the vinyl the insurance company does not want to remove it they said it was dry. I have held off on installing major, overkill French drains around the perimeter of my foundation until I can define the source. Please what is the solution to this? It is not very visible but as I run my fingers through some areas of the concrete I see the tip of my fingers are slightly wet. Good luck. Good Luck. They also had a plumber test our lines – they all were fine. Do you have any thoughts/opinions on this? Yet you have other water sources to worry about. Make sure that your water displacement methods aren’t generating run-off in the wrong directions. it always seems more pronounced after wet weather. Good luck. http://www.vanguardconcretecoating.com/resins.htm, https://cleanfax.com/disaster-restoration/tented-tile/, https://www.wagnermeters.com/concrete-moisture-test/free-concrete-moisture-webinar/, https://www.homeinspector.org/Homebuyers-Sellers/Home-Inspector-App, https://www.nicfi.org/search.aspx#results, https://usa.sika.com/en/construction/floor-covering/flooring-primers-moisture-barriers.list.html/products/sika-mb.html, http://m.wakol-usa.com/products/preparing/WAKOL-PU-280. In fact, the existing water source itself may not be the problem. We had a drainage problem on one side of the house that resulted in wet walls (interior, not exterior) as well as major efflorescence in the new tile installation. For instance, you take your readings prior to installing a hardwood floor and the subfloor moisture content is 10% and the strip Hardwood was at 7%. That is, water the concrete doesn’t need to cure. The water is only on the surface of my slab. I have an RH meter that will read down to 2 inches, but during the Xypex process, they require you to super saturate your slab, so at the moment it is reading 99.9% moisture at that depth everywhere. They had a wood flooring specialist from NWFA come out. Remove all floor coverings. Your first step is to have a reliable concrete moisture test done. Even the un-remodeled bathrooms to this day do not show water intrusion. recommendations? We then pulled out all of the carpet in the bedrooms and all of the pads had moisture/water damage. Will a dehumidifier help the air absorb more moisture from the concrete? The white spots are probably efflorescence which is salts from the concrete that are transported to the surface via excess moisture. Is it because the laminate is currently swollen and the original problem hasn’t “disappeared almost completely” as you state? Having HVAC units up and running is step number one to expedite the process. Of greater concern is what the MVER test measures. Even better, the RH test can be completed in 24 hours. I am trying to determine the best way to fix this from happening. Nobody yet has found the culprit and I’m getting more and more worried about this problem, because the fall and winter months are coming. Rain, snow, and sprinkler systems are culprits on a work site open to the elements. The house had 6 year old carpet through out the home until the seller installed porcelain plank tiles (5/2019) everywhere except the bedrooms, which had carpet and the bathrooms which were previously tiled (no issues are noticed in either bathroom). Heavy rains do not seem to affect the frequency, nor does an extended time without rain. It is possible that the concrete wasn’t completely dried out, but I would have expected if that were the case it would have shown problems to the floor much sooner than years down the road. Test for moisture to see if you have water vapor seeping through. I live in Ottawa, Canada in a house that was built in 1978. summary We don’t know why it hasn’t been able to dry out. One of the main culprits for this is that IF a vapor retarder was used under the slab originally, it has probably degraded to the point that it is no longer effective, allowing for moisture vapor to move through the soil and into the slab. 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