Floor Not Bone Dry? Slab Testing and Mitigation
RH Testing of the Concrete Moisture
We will test the moisture of your floor using RH Testing. We use probes that measure the relative humidity and calculate the moisture within the slab. Whether or not your slab passes depends on the humidity within the slab as well as what type of coating or application will be used on top of the flooring.
If Your Floor Passes the Concrete Moisture Test
If your flooring slab is designated as dry, we’ll let you know the results and that you’re clear to proceed with your project.
If Your Floor Fails the Concrete Moisture Test (Don’t Worry)
Option 1: Vapor Retarder
One of the products we recommend and install for moisture mitigation is a vapor retarder on top of the concrete floor. The vapor retarder will prevent any moisture within the slab from having any negative impact on what you overlay on top of the slab.
Option: 2 Moisture Mitigation Coating
We will coat the slab or flooring with a chemical coating that prevents moisture from emerging from the surface of the floor or cement. This will also prevent any moisture from damaging whatever you apply to the top of the floor and help keep it dry.
Why is Moisture Mitigation Necessary Anyway?
Obviously, water is an essential ingredient in the creation of concrete floors. As the wet concrete mix is poured and formed into a slab, the water vapor that is within the slab migrates to the surface of the slab as it is drying.
The water or vapor is moving from an area of higher relative humidity (the slab) to an area of lower relative humidity (the surrounding air).
Before applying a coating or covering to new concrete flooring, you must be sure that the floor meets the relative humidity requirements for that particular application.
- Mold – a wet concrete floor can seep up into anything that comes in contact with the concrete – including carpets, walls, and moulding. The result can be mold growing on all of these surfaces.
- Warping / Buckling / Cracking – Wood floors placed on top of the concrete slap can be adversely affected by the moisture and can raise and warp – ruining the wood floor. Tile floors can be affected in a similar way. As the moisture makes its way to the surface of the slab, it can cause the tile to bend and crack.
- Whitening (Efflorescence) – if you apply a stain that has a high concentration of copper salts to a wet concrete floor, the result can be a whitening of the concrete floor. The water vapor
- Bubbling / Blistering – Pressure from the rising water vapor can cause bubbling and blistering of coatings that are applied to the concrete floor.
FloorMedics – Our Moisture Mitigation Partner
Moisture Testing Partner
- Cushman & Wakefield
- Lincoln Property Company
- Nordstrom, Inc.
- Simon Property Group, Inc. (American commercial real estate company, ranked #1 in the United States as the largest real estate investment trust.)
- Cushman & Wakefield
- Flatiron Property Management
- Brinkman Properties
- American Renal Associates, LLC
- Aviva Properties
- Coughlin & Company