Humidity In Concrete Floors

The hygrohood can be used in conjunction with the tramex cme4 or the tramex cmex2 to corroborate the non destructive moisture content test and to conform to british standard.

Humidity in concrete floors.

Because concrete is permeable ground moisture can slowly move upward in the form of vapor and adversely affect anything that rests on top of the concrete. Concrete moisture levels can affect flooring moisture can be a problem when a floor that looks dry really isn t. These problems are not only disrupting functions of the building due to maintenance operations but also costly. During the construction of a concrete building an essential step in the application of flooring is the importance of monitoring the relative humidity rh moisture levels and the moisture evaporation rate of your slab.

The conditions under the plastic should not feel or smell damp and the slab shouldn t look discolored. After three days read the humidity under the plastic with a dew point hygrometer. Concrete slabs and floors can be excellent subfloor surfaces for tile and other floor coverings but too much moisture in the concrete can cause problems with flooring installations. While the industry doesn t have all the answers it can be said that moisture issues in concrete floors tend to arise from one of two sources.

Commonly concrete floors are vulnerable to moisture and suffer from different detrimental influence of moisture such as lifting tile off the floor rotting hardwood damping carpet coating delamination and many more. This relatively low value was determined many years ago and some now regard it as unrealistically low for modern site timescales and many modern flooring materials. Understanding relative humidity in concrete. How moisture gets into concrete.

The plastic sheet method involves taping a plastic sheet to the concrete. The concrete mix itself in the event the slab is insufficiently cured or is otherwise holding moisture. To install flooring you ll need a humidity level below 80. If your concrete contains excess moisture and high rh levels this can lead to disastrous flooring failures resulting in costly repairs and liabilities.

Therefore it s advisable to have a floor tested for moisture content prior to installing flooring or moisture barriers. Some flooring system manufacturers have products that can handle 95 rh or mor 2. The hygrohood is a strong robust surface humidity box tester for concrete and screeds.