“…In the area of how contractors handle moisture mitigation issues, which many people both in and outside of flooring consider to be the No. 1 issue facing the industry, we asked a variety of questions, ranging from common problems contractors come across to their processes and procedures for testing as well as how they handled a difficult situation—sometimes at great costs to their company—to give readers even more insight in case they run into a similar circumstance.

Here’s what they had to say:

What is the most common moisture-related problem you come across?

Edward Covington, Covington Flooring Co., Birmingham, Ala.: The responsibility of who is going to pay for moisture mitigation is becoming more and more of a problem for us. We have had several projects where the general contractor (GC) has tried to stick us with the cost of mitigation. I am not sure if that is the kind of “problem” [others are facing] but it is definitely a problem for us.

Jobs are delayed for one reason or another—by no fault of ours—and it comes time to do our work and the slab is wet and everyone looks to the flooring contractor to handle it.

I have even had a GC say he considers this “standard floor preparation.”

Rick Kercheval, Intertech/Supercap Southwest, Dallas: Usually, it’s high permeability concrete and required rapid turnaround on new pours. Also, poorly run or no testing prior to installing a sensitive floor finish and not knowing a failure was imminent or [due to happen within a] short time.

Les Lippert, Lippert Tile Co., Menomonee Falls, Wis.: Project schedules do not always allow for proper concrete drying conditions. Delayed building enclosure and HVAC system operation, combined with the short project durations, make concrete drying an issue. Once we are at the point where concrete moisture is preventing us from performing our work according to the schedule, there are two solutions to the problem: Extra time permitting concrete drying or extra money spent on remediation…”

To read more click here.

“Contractor Forum: Contractors Discuss Moisture Mitigation”

Floor Trends Magazine

By: Matthew Spieler

March 3, 2015