Laminate subfloor moisture testing is often overlooked, yet most critical when installing laminate flooring. Concrete slab and wood subfloor both have moisture limits. Failure to skip laminate subfloor moisture testing often results in laminate floor failures.
Failure to Perform Laminate Subfloor Moisture Testing
Buckling, cupping, squeaking, and raised edges are a few of the problems that result from failure to perform subfloor moisture testing. Installed over a substrate with excessive moisture content, the laminate will likely fail.
When a floor fails because a flooring installer or homeowner decided that the concrete looked dry enough and skipped the laminate subfloor moisture testing, whose fault is that? The installer is going to blame the homeowner, and the homeowner the installer. It certainly isn’t the fault of the laminate flooring manufacturer. After all, the manufacturer warned you in their installation instructions that the floor needed to be tested.
Moisture testing doesn’t only apply to concrete slabs; it also applies to wood subfloors. Yes, even wood can have an excessively high moisture content. You skip the testing, and often, within days of installation, you hear “snap, crackle, and pop,” or you think you are walking on a trampoline. If you have a laminate floor that has developed concerns or you need a floor tested, contact TW Group Inspections, a nationally recognized inspection company.
Laminate Subfloor Moisture Testing Requirements
These standards vary widely by product. Refer to the manufacturer’s laminate flooring instructions for the product you are installing.
Wood Laminate Subfloor Moisture Standards
-Kronotex has less than 14% on wood subfloors.
-Shaw 12% maximum on wood using a wood pin probe meter.
-Mannington, Columbia, Mohawk, Quickstep, and Unilin each state that subfloor moisture content may not exceed 12%. Since these companies do not specify the type of meter used, either a pin or a noninvasive meter is acceptable under their subfloor moisture testing standards.
-TORLYS states that subfloor moisture content may not exceed 10%.
As you can see by the moisture standards of these manufacturers, not all requirements are the same. Don’t risk the failure of your new laminate floor and don’t void your warranty by failing to follow the standards of your flooring manufacturer.
Concrete Laminate Subfloor Moisture Standards
Shaw, Pergo, Kronotex, Mannington, TORLYS, Columbia, Mohawk, Quickstep, and Unilin all require Calcium Chloride testing performed to ASTM Standards. The vapor emission standard for each of these companies is a vapor emissions reading of less than 5 lbs per 24 hours, per 1000 square feet.
How to Perform a Calcium Chloride Test
