Replies

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   Guest_ | Aug 25, 1999 03:23am | #3

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   I have a floor installed on joists over a concrete floor, the room is heated. The lino on this floor is starting to wrinkle, the floor make up is joists, 3/4" plywood, 1/4" sub-floor, lino,another 1/4" sub-floor and again lino. It is now time to repair this floor properly, I drilled a hole thru the floor to see it's make up, doing so I noticed that the wood sample I drilled was damp, I suspect that this floor was put down with out a vapour barrier, could this be the cause of the dampness, and is a vapour barrier necessary? and does the fact that the room is heated have anythink to do with having a vapour barrier?

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   Guest_ | Aug 13, 1999 04:37am | #1

   *Hi Mark,Why was the room's floor constructed with joists as described?Was this a conversion from a garage to a interior room and the concrete never had a vapour barrier?I'm puzzled by the amount of moisture your finding. When the wood becomes saturated like that, I always suspect something else like a leak from either the exterior or a faulty pipe. You could have a water pipe feeding under the floor and coming up through the floor into the warm room and when the condensation forms on the pipe it runs down the pipe and drips onto the concrete floor.What I'm saying is that I have difficulty thinking that the vb is your only problem or may not be your problem at all.Regardless,You will have to strip it down to the concrete to fix this floor in any event.With many of the new products on the market, it is cheaper, easier, faster and much better to go another route than the joist construction next time.Gabe

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   Guest_ | Aug 23, 1999 12:21pm | #2

   *Consider the Delta-FL floor covering product mentioned here in the archives (search) as a replacement. Haven't tried it yet but will soon.

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   rbsmith252 | Aug 25, 1999 03:23am | #4

   *I have a new house built on a concrete pad. The first floor is half garage and half rec room with a wall between. We have noticed that the floor is damp at times (in patches). I have installed a dehumidifier but I want to cover the rec room concrete floor with something more inviting. We checked with the builder he says he did not install a vapor barrier. How can I correct this problem? Should I install a vapor barrier on top of the concrete and then a pergo type or other floor on top of that. I need some advise here. Thanks