I received a call the other day from a fellow consultant in the California area working for a national chain store who is looking to open a several thousand square foot store in our community. He consults via retainer for the company about all flooring issues, and they asked him to conduct moisture testing to ensure adequate environmental conditions prior to the installation of their floor covering. He called me to assist.
I realized after I got off the phone with the gentleman how little emphasis gets placed upon testing for moisture by local contractors. Even more shocking is the fact that it seems like only the largest companies apparently concern themselves with it. Examining a national chain store, I see that they have the proper view that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
In my business I work with numerous contractors and talk with them day in and day out, and I can tell you that the level of professionalism in areas such as moisture remediation is extremely poor. In fact, most general contractors do not even know what it is, and when you mention the need for it, they complain that you are too hard to work with. It seems that their experience in working with other companies, who do not care, gave them a cavalier attitude that moisture and other such issues are menial. They have yet to experience a catastrophic failure because of it. The odd part of the matter is that when they do experience a catastrophic failure, their business will not live to tell about it.
Moisture issues on the whole are among the most insidious around, but more profound is the fact that they are preventable with relatively simple testing procedures. Further, no construction project is immune because even the smallest house can be affected by an unseen moisture problem. Moreover, the more important questions appear to be where it comes from and what does it affect. Both answers are rather lengthy and less than finite.
Moisture testing gathers information quantitatively about subterranean moisture (coming from underneath the substrate). While numerous testing methods exist, the most prevalent at this time is the Calcium Chloride test performed on top of concrete substrates. As you might have guessed, concrete subfloors are the most common type in our region, Panama City, FL; therefore, I will tell you a little bit more about them.
Where does it come from? Moisture comes from beneath the concrete itself as it migrates up from the ground into the structure. Since no structure is perfectly air tight, moisture migration is a constant process, is normal, and is to be expected as long as it is controlled and not extreme. The most typical kind of control used in concrete subfloors is the use of a plastic membrane underneath the concrete slab. Slightly less well known is the tendency of concrete workers to poke holes in the plastic barrier to decrease drying time. Shocking, perhaps, but yes, it happens!
When moisture reaches the surface of the concrete in acceptable quantities, it off gasses into the air and maintains normal humidity in a house. In greater quantities, the moisture will cause problems such as dissolution of adhesives use to hold a floor down like hardwood or vinyl, rotting of floor materials such as carpet or hardwood, growth of mold in cushion or hardwood, and even worse things than these. Found early enough, disastrous problems can be diverted, so why would you not want to know ahead of time what could happen to your hardwood, laminate, carpet, or vinyl because of unseen moisture?
The answer most general contractors seem most willing to give is that they have done it this way for years and never had a problem. One thing I can say for certain is they do have problems, but the problems usually come after the warranty is expired. I know this because I inspect floors and see these problems regularly, and I experience push back from general contractors all the time as they persist in trying to maintain the status quo. As a whole, they prefer to shove their heads in the sand instead of dealing with potential problems head on.
As for me and my store, we will continue to press forward with completing our installations in accordance with industry standards. Our integrity is too valuable to sacrifice for a few measly dollars.
For more information on this and other topics, go to our website: www.CarpetOnePanamaCity.com. In the meantime, insist your flooring company follows the legal boundaries set forth by the industry. Do your due diligence in checking out their background, and you may be surprised by what you find. I recently found that a certain company in our area who claimed to be the oldest has actually gone out of business twice, and reopened. A simple visit to http://sunbiz.org gave me that information. It never ceases to amaze me at what some people will do to make a dollar…
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