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Thank you, Harry. I still have a concern with no vapor barrier in place. Wouldn't the tile lift after a few years? Can a plastic barrier be placed before the thin set? What would be the best solution? Anyone?
If properly done, the thinset will bond ceramic tile so strongly that the tile will break first. If you look at the wet areas around concession counters and in fast food restaurants and bars, you will almost always see some form of tile as the floor surface. The floor can literally be awash in water much of the day.
A floating subfloor with built-in vapor retarder- Extreme How To
I don't see it so much as a vapor retarder as I do a ventilated area if installed correctly.
Or, the old way for installing hardwood- pic# 1
Or, the other old way- with sleepers- pic#2
Of course the finished floor doesn't have to be hardwood- it could be carpet.
KB - south Florida has some issues that are unusual. Almost ALL of it is in a flood plain. A couple of times the only difference between our place flooding and not was a 2" rise, and we were not unique. There is also a major issue with various types of ants. The only way you could convince me to put any water sensitive flooring down would be if the place had been built or mud-jacked at least a couple feet above the surrounding area.
I am in florida too and agree with harry, tile it. I bought a fixer upper with a stanky damp carpet on concrete, tore it up and tiled. Been seven years and two hurricanes since then with no issues. Oh, i did bleach the concrete to kill mildew, probably didnt need to but it made me feel better.
It was pretty common in the 60's for people to cover their great hardwood floors with carpet. The way the hardwoods would often be installed was to coat the slab with a layer of tar to act as a mastic/vapor barrier, then lay 1X4 runners something like 12" on-center as a sub-floor, then install the tongue&groove hardwoods over the runners.
California may be very different (from Houston, wet central), but the problem with this way of doing things is that the space between the runners can fill with water if the slab wants to sweat, the tar doesn't want to hold on to the slab and there isn't enough circulation. Putting the carpet pad over the hardwoods pretty much guarantees that circulation goes to zero. I've seen two houses in my neighborhood constructed cerca 1955 that had this problem. I would be surprised if there are not a lot more.
Another thing you may want to think about is a leak somewhere if you only see evidence of water around the perimeter of the room. It isn't impossible for a leak in the roof to run down a rafter, jump to the top plate, follow a stud down the wall and finally present under a baseboard in a room 20 linear feet away.
I know this thread is very old, but the description above matches my situation exactly. A lake cottage, built in the 1950s. Slab, tar, 1x4s, and then wood over and then carpet pad and carpet. I just tore up the carpet and pad and found damp wood.
The pad had a backing sheet, so it probably acted like saran wrap to keep that moisture locked down and in the subfloor.
I do not want carpet back in there.
So I can think of two ideas.
#1: Silicon has great adhesive properties, can be applied thick, doesn't shrink, and stays very flexible so any future settling/cracking of the slab won't immediately tear it. Does anyone make a silicon I can apply with brush/roller over the tar (where tar is still holding. if i find any loose tar i'll of course remove it). Here my goal is to seal it. Maybe even some thick visqueen under the subfloor?
OR
#2: Leave the tar as is, consider sealing it a lost cause. New fresh subfloor, using some type of composite material that won't rot. Then a flooring material that breathes (not sure what?) and use a dehumidifier constantly. Here my goal would be to let the moisture in and suck it out of the air.
Frankly I like the idea of trying to block the moisture with visqueen. But what will happen to those moisture pockets that will form between the top of the slab and the plastic sheet?
My grade around the place is pretty good so I'm surprised I'm having this problem.
I live in Florida and had a shed built. After about 2 months, I had mold in the shed. I researched and was told to place a 12" by 12" piece of plastic on the floor with tape around it to seal the plastic to the floor. After 24 hours, remove the plastic and see if there is moisture underneath. There was definitely moisture underneath, wicking from the concrete. I then researched several concrete sealers and came upon a product made by Enduraseal called Hydra Seal. It's a penetrating sealer, not a topical type like paint. I applied the product as instructed and did the plastic test after the recommended curing period of around 10 days. After doing the plastic sheet test again, absolutely no moisture whatsoever. I can only say that the sealer is working now. Don't know how long the sealer will work but the manufacturer claims that it's permanent.
I have a large deck. The height is 4ft. The length is 50ft. The width is 15ft. It stays damp underneath. Some of the boards have twisted and buckled up. What can I do in order to fixed this problem so it does not happen again? Thank you!
Is it open and well ventilated under and around the deck? Maybe you could try a vapor barrier on the ground.
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Sealer is Working
