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Exactly what is a concrete vapor barrier?

A concrete vapor barrier is any material that forestalls moisture from entering a concrete slab. Vapor barriers are employed because while fresh concrete flows wet, it’s not supposed to stay that way. It must dry after which stay dry to prevent flooring problems.

If you’ve been able to a problem with a basement floor (or any concrete floor), you realize the sort of damage the exact same thing much moisture may cause. Moisture enters concrete in several ways, including using the ground, from humidity via a flight, and through leaky plumbing that goes through a slab. Naturally, there’s the moisture that has been in the original concrete mixture.

There’s only one-way moisture leaves concrete, though, and that’s via its surface. When you have a concrete floor that’s in continuous connection with a source of moisture, you’re likely to have problems. This is the reason a vapor barrier under concrete is crucial. Vapor barriers are a good way to keep moisture from getting into the concrete.

Note: A vapor barrier isn’t identical to an underlayment. However, there are underlayments that act as vapor barriers.

Vapor barrier permeability is expressed in perms.

Vapor barriers have varying levels of permeability, expressed in perms. The higher the number, greater permeable the material. Impermeable vapor barriers are the ones which has a rating of 0.1 perm or less while class II vapor retarders are the ones using a rating greater than 0.1 perm much less than 1.0 perm.

You’ll hear people using the terms ‘vapor barrier’ and ‘vapor retarder’ interchangeably. However, as it happens, they aren’t a similar thing. Vapor barriers are less permeable than vapor retarders. In this article, we are while using term ‘vapor barrier’.

Exactly why is an excessive amount of moisture in concrete a problem?

One word: adhesives. Excessive moisture in concrete is a concern as it could cause pH changes that destroy adhesives. Here’s what are the results.

As moisture makes its approach to the top of a concrete slab, soluble alkalies arrive for your ride and lift its surface pH above that regarding flooring adhesives. This causes the adhesives to breakdown and you also get flooring failures for example swelling, bulging, or cupping.

Do you need a vapor barrier within layer of concrete?

In short, yes. Here’s why.

There’s more often than not water underneath a building site. It might not be near the surface, however that doesn’t mean it’s not there. This water can move up over the soil and are available into contact with the bottom of a concrete floor via capillary action. Capillary action can be stopped by installing something known as a capillary break, a layer of crushed rock that goes relating to the subgrade along with the slab.

Capillary breaks do a passable job of stopping water rolling around in its liquid state from reaching a slab. However, they can’t stop water in vapor form from reaching and entering a concrete slab. Therefore, there must be something under the slab that stops vapor moisture from entering.

You might also need a vapor barrier for liability reasons since most manufacturers of flooring include vapor barriers or retarders inside their installation guidelines.

How thick should a plastic vapor barrier be?

Based on the Self-help guide to Concrete Floor and Slab Construction created by the American Concrete Institute, a vapor retarder should not be under 10 mils thick. You will need a much thicker barrier though if you’re covering material with sharp angles.

Bottom line: Vapor barriers must be sufficiently strong enough so that they don’t easily puncture. When they do, moisture will get in and that’s what you’re attempting to keep out.

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