I keep seeing guys skip the moisture test on concrete slabs and it's going to cost them big.

Just finished a job in Tampa where the GC swore the slab was cured for 90 days. I ran my meter anyway and it was still reading over 5%. If I'd just glued that LVP down, it would have bubbled in a year. A $20 tool and ten minutes can save you a $15,000 callback. Who taught you to trust a calendar over a meter?

3 comments

3 Comments

jennifer35828d ago

My meter saved me on a Phoenix job last month. The slab was six months old but still reading 4.5% moisture.

the_jennifer9d ago

My buddy Mike in Jacksonville had a slab that sat for almost a year. He was ready to install this expensive engineered hardwood. His meter read 4.8% right in the middle of the room. He waited another month, tested again, and it finally dropped. That floor would have been a total wreck. He still talks about how close he came to a disaster.

mary_schmidt7628d ago

That calendar doesn't account for the local water table or drainage. A slab in a low spot or near a high water table can act like a sponge for MONTHS longer than the specs say. Seen it trap moisture over a year in coastal areas.