Information It's Important To Know About Concrete Vapor Barrier

· 3 min read
Information It's Important To Know About Concrete Vapor Barrier




Just what is a concrete vapor barrier?
A concrete vapor barrier is any material that prevents moisture from entering a layer of concrete. Vapor barriers are widely-used because while fresh concrete flows wet, it’s not meant to stay doing this. It must dry then stay dry to avoid flooring problems.




If you’ve had a problem with a basement floor (or any concrete floor), you realize the level of damage this too much moisture could cause. Moisture enters concrete in a number of ways, including using the ground, from humidity in mid-air, and throughout leaky plumbing that goes through a slab. Naturally, there’s and also the moisture that has been from 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 contact with an origin of moisture, you’re likely to have issues. This is why a vapor barrier under concrete is important. Vapor barriers are a way to maintain moisture from engaging in the concrete.

Note: A vapor barrier isn't identical to an underlayment. However, you can find underlayments that work as vapor barriers.

Vapor barrier permeability is expressed in perms.
Vapor barriers have varying levels of permeability, expressed in perms. The better the number, greater permeable the material. Impermeable vapor barriers are those with a rating of 0.1 perm or less while class II vapor retarders are those using a rating higher than 0.1 perm and fewer than 1.0 perm.

You’ll hear people while using terms ‘vapor barrier’ and ‘vapor retarder’ interchangeably. However, in fact, they aren’t the same thing. Vapor barriers are less permeable than vapor retarders. In the following paragraphs, we are while using term ‘vapor barrier’.

Exactly why is too much moisture in concrete an issue?
A word: adhesives. An excessive amount of moisture in concrete is a dilemma as it can cause pH changes that destroy adhesives. Here’s how are you affected.

As moisture makes its strategy to the counter of your layer of concrete, soluble alkalies appear for your ride and raise its surface pH above that relating to flooring adhesives. This makes the adhesives to breakdown and also you end up getting flooring failures such as swelling, bulging, or cupping.

Do you really need a vapor barrier within concrete slab?
In short, yes. Here’s why.

There’s typically water underneath a structure site. It may not be near the surface, however that doesn’t mean it’s not there. This water can progress up from the soil and come into contact with the bottom of a concrete floor via capillary action. Capillary action might be stopped by using something known as a capillary break, a layer of crushed rock which goes between your subgrade along with the slab.

Capillary breaks do an adequate job of stopping water 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 ought to be something underneath the slab that stops vapor moisture from entering.

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

How thick should a plastic vapor barrier be?
In accordance with the Self-help guide to Concrete Floor and Slab Construction provided by the American Concrete Institute, a vapor retarder shouldn't be under 10 mils thick. You might need a good thicker barrier though if you’re covering material with sharp angles.

Net profit: Vapor barriers need to be sufficiently strong enough enough so that they don’t easily puncture. If they do, moisture is certain to get in and that’s what you’re trying to keep out.


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