Does Your Concrete Floor Have a Moisture Problem? If So, What Can You Do?

If you know that your con­crete floor has a high mois­ture con­tent, you like­ly are already see­ing the signs. These include, but aren’t lim­it­ed to:

• Bub­bles
• Blis­ters
• Stain­ing
• A brown liq­uid seep­ing up through the floor
• Delam­i­na­tion
• Dam­age to car­pet and tiles
• Growth of mold and mildew
• …and more

Floors are easy to take for grant­ed, and when they begin to cause an issue it can be a frus­trat­ing expe­ri­ence. The key, above all else, is not to ignore the prob­lem. It won’t sim­ply go away, but will instead con­tin­ue to grow and turn into a wide­spread issue.

Let’s take a clos­er look at what caus­es excess mois­ture, and how you can prac­ti­cal­ly fix it.

What Caus­es Excess Mois­ture In Your Con­crete Slab?

In short, many of the issues with con­crete floors today can be traced back to either a mal­func­tion­ing or nonex­is­tent vapor bar­ri­er under the slab. This bar­ri­er is designed to pre­vent water vapor from enter­ing the slab from under­neath, then being dif­fused through the con­crete to the surface.

It’s odd to think of mois­ture trav­el­ing through a con­crete floor like this, but it does.

Out­dat­ed vapor bar­ri­ers act as more of a retar­dant, sim­ply slow­ing the mois­ture absorp­tion down. Today’s more sophis­ti­cat­ed sys­tems can either lim­it or com­plete­ly pre­vent the water vapor from enter­ing the slab at all.

How to Pre­vent Mois­ture Prob­lems on Con­crete Floor

If you aren’t sure if you have an intact vapor bar­ri­er, it’s impor­tant to have the mois­ture lev­els in your slab test­ed right away. This kind of pre­ven­tion is an invest­ment you’ll nev­er regret making!

How Do I Fix Mois­ture in My Con­crete Floor?

If your mois­ture lev­el is high, it is cru­cial to talk with a floor­ing pro­fes­sion­al about match­ing a mois­ture mit­i­ga­tion sys­tem with your spe­cif­ic needs. Here at Kaloutas’s indus­tri­al floor­ing divi­sion, for exam­ple, we can install a cut­ting-edge sys­tem under our epoxy coat­ings, or under any type of floor­ing installed by some­one else.

Do You Have Ques­tions About Find­ing the Best Mois­ture Mit­i­ga­tion Sys­tem for You?

If so, why not con­tact us? It would be a plea­sure to dis­cuss your spe­cif­ic needs and goals.

Kaloutas is New Eng­land’s pre­mier con­trac­tor for com­mer­cial & indus­tri­al paint­ing, floor­ing, and relat­ed ser­vices. Estab­lished in 1987, Kaloutas has become a trust­ed resource for gen­er­al con­trac­tors, facil­i­ties man­agers, and build­ing own­ers from Con­necti­cut to Maine. Our team prides itself on high qual­i­ty work­man­ship, jobs done on time & bud­get, and tack­ling com­plex projects that oth­er con­trac­tors don’t have the expe­ri­ence or resources to han­dle. Con­tact us today for a paint­ing or floor­ing esti­mate, or give us a call at 978−532−1414 to learn more.