Understanding the moisture puzzle.

All concrete slabs regardless of their age, elevation or location, will contain and love to retain, moisture. The degree to which can only be guestimated or carefully monitored.

While moisture in concrete is a natural and necessary part of all concrete, it can lead to chemical interactions that are very disagreeable to flooring. This is primarily due to a highly alkaline envirionment at the bond-line of the flooring.

Moisture is not the "sole cause" of the floor distress, but the necessary ingredient to create an eventual, unstable bonding surface for any floor covering and many coatings too.

Many people underestimate the time it takes for a new concrete slab to "dry down" to a safe, complaint level for flooring, and in some cases, the slab never will.

No contractor has any control on how soon a given slab will become safe to install upon, nor can they guarantee that surface wiill pemanently remain stable.

Testing can be a helpful way to determine the suitability at the time of install, but is not fail-safe since conditions measured during testing may not be the same as when the floor is completely installed and the building has been in use for some time.

Short construction schedules are the primary reasons for many past failures since the water-of-convenience in the slab creates a healthy but high humidity inside pores in the slab and really does not begin to evaporate until the building has been brought into a controlled environment.

In many cases, floor moisture problems and flooring distress does not happen until long after the Owner has moved into the facility and has HVAC systems up and running for some time.

It is a well-known fact that climate-controlled interiors can pull water as vapor through walls and roofs. Great progress has been made to put in vapor barriers that prevent moisture damage from outside sources there, yet few people realize that a slab is quite porous too.

Certainly a vapor retarder under the concrete is the first line of defense but a topical moisture barrier applied properly to the surface of the slab offers greater protection to flooring, as it also creates an akalinity barrier.

I have seen and consulted on many projects over time. The issues are always about the same. There is nothing wrong whatsoever with the slab, it should be expected to be damp, alkaline and healthy.

Contractors should never be forced by paper clauses to install flooring when conditions are not safe. This only leads to legal fuel and a lot of grief, waste and frustration with people.

Knowing how this problem works is not just understanding simple physics of moisture and chemistry, but the more complex issues that exist between owners, architects, managers, contractors and subs.

Please allow me to use the experience I have gained, often by observing other people's problems, to help you avoid the moisture liability issue and the damages it causes everyone.

Keypoints

• Most all activity in a buidling, takes place on the floor. A failure means having to shut-down and move-out.
• Understanding the issue, liability, risk and what works and does not work to resolve it, is critical.
• The problem is best addressed in the design spec, but can always be fixed later, only if it is done right.
• Consulting with somebody who has experience is far less expensive than figuring it out on your own.

Mission Statement

My goal is simply to help people. People are architects, building owners and contractors. All of you suffer from enormous liability damages and costs associated to a problem that can be often misunderstood. For more than 20 years, I have consulted, lectured and published information on this issue, because a floor failure costs people a lot of grief.

 

With millions of square feet of project experience, I am qualified to help anyone with this problem and to show them how to resolve the issue cost-effectively and with certaintty.