Loading…
11
My brother told me to never trust a 'flat' concrete slab without checking moisture first
He said that after a job in Tampa where a glue-down LVP failed in under a year. I ignored him on a 1200 sq ft basement install last month, thinking the slab felt dry. Glued it down, looked perfect. Woke up two days later to bubbles and lifting planks along the entire west wall. Had to tear out about 300 sq ft of material on my own dime. Who else has gotten burned by a slab that seemed fine?
4 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In4 Comments
lindag336mo ago
Was it one of those new fast drying pours? My neighbor had a patio done that felt bone dry in a week, but the guy said to wait a full month before sealing it. He sealed it after two weeks because it looked ready, and the whole thing ended up with this weird white haze that wouldn't come off. It makes you wonder what's going on underneath even when the top feels okay.
8
anderson.piper6mo ago
Reminds me of my cousin's garage floor, lindag33.
6
knight.dylan6mo ago
My buddy in Phoenix glued engineered hardwood to his sunroom slab last fall. It felt completely dry to the touch, no dark spots or anything. Six months later the boards started cupping so bad you could trip on them, and the installer said it was all from moisture under the surface.
1
sage3085mo ago
Feel that pain man. I did the same thing in a basement in Ohio a few years back. Slab felt dry as a bone, no cracks or weird spots, and I thought I was golden. Three weeks later I had planks curling up along a whole wall, and a moisture meter showed it was soaked from the ground up. Ended up having to pull the whole floor and let it dry out for a month before I could even think about trying again. It's a hard lesson, but I've learned to trust cheap moisture meters more than my own fingers or eyes. You're not alone in this, a lot of us have been burned by a slab that looked fine on top.
1