Moisture Testing Concrete For Wood Floors

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.

Moisture testing concrete for wood floors.

In general 12 moisture or above is too wet to install flooring. Above this level of moisture the gypsum in the flooring underlayment could be considered moisture compromised. Unlike fifty years ago hardwood flooring comes from different parts of the country or with exotics the world. The concrete wood combination can be both beautiful and lasting once moisture issues are addressed and managed.

Pin meters use electrical resistance to measure the presence of moisture in wood flooring. It s important to understand the testing process on concrete subfloors and the implications of moisture on flooring performance in order to plan project timelines and budgets accordingly and to. Wood subfloors are actually easy to check for moisture content just test for moisture at several locations in the room and average the results fig. A definitive test that measures the amount of moisture released from the concrete requires a calcium chloride kit or a relative humidity meter.

Therefore it s advisable to have a floor tested for moisture content prior to installing flooring or moisture barriers. 1 in most regions of the country a dry wood subfloor that is ready to work has a moisture content of 12 percent or less or down to about 6 in states with low rh relative humidity. These devices can be used to test the moisture content mc of wood flooring in mere seconds. Concrete must always contain some moisture but it cannot be an excessive amount.

To determine if your hardwood floors need to be acclimated you can use a wood floor moisture test. The desired moisture content of your gypsum should be less than 1 mc. Taking a moment to test gyp crete with a moisture meter can help avoid problems associated with building on the underlayment before it s ready. Wood moisture meters for flooring applications come in two varieties.

When you install hardwood laminate or vinyl flooring over a concrete subfloor one of the most important steps to take to ensure the lasting beauty and stability of your floors is moisture testing. When it is the moisture levels can cause floor coverings to fail. Testing with either method will tell you how precisely how much moisture is present making it possible to choose a surface flooring that is appropriate. Before you lay the first plank you must ensure that the moisture level in the concrete subfloor is low enough that it will not affect your flooring.

First test the moisture level of the subfloor. Flooring of the time adjusted to the regions average moisture content. In earlier days trees were often used for flooring from surrounding forests. Testing wood subfloors.