Moisture Control Services | Moisture Testing Concrete

MCS is a IICRC certified company meaning you can be confident that you will get a professional service who will take care of your valuable carpets, furnishings and property.

Certified companies are registered businesses which have pledged to conduct their business honestly, observing the IICRC Code of Ethics, continuing staff training / education and are fully insured.

Moisture Testing & Reporting / Structural Drying

1) Concrete slab / floor – moisture testing

Concrete floors must be dry to an adequate level before the installation of sheet material, tile, wood or coating. Excessive moisture in or permeating from the floor slab after installation of a floor covering or coating can cause failures such as condensation, blistering, delaminating, movement and general deterioration of the finished flooring / coating. There is also a high risk of promoting microbial (mould) growth.

It is important to highlight the misunderstanding of stating a WME (Wood Moisture Equivalent) percentage when drying concrete. At time tenders are written requesting that the concrete floor must be dried to a 12% WME. When this occurs MCS highlights that you cannot correlate concrete moisture reading to that of a WME percentage. Concrete moisture needs to be tested using instruments specific designed to measure moisture in such material.

Draft Australian Standard DR AS1884 (Floor coverings – resilient sheet and tiles – installation practices) stipulates means of measuring moisture in concrete and when it is adopted 16mm holes will need to be drilled 40% into the depth of the slab and if relative humidity is less than 75% it is considered dry. MCS will adopt this means when the standard is endorsed where the closing date for comment was 12^th July 2011. At present MCS is developing a Work Method Statement (WMS) for moisture testing so we comply with the new standard thereby meeting customer needs.

How the meter works

MCS uses a dedicated moisture meter for concrete – Concrete Encounter CME4. The instrument operates on the principal that the electrical impedance of a material varies in proportion to its moisture content. The electrical impedance is measured by creating a low frequency alternating electric field between the electrodes and the surface of the area it is testing.

This field penetrates approximately 15mm of concrete under test. The very small alternating current flowing through the field is inversely proportional to the impedance of the material. The instrument detects this current, determines its amplitude and thus derives the moisture value.

Testing procedures

Make sure that the floor slab being tested is clean and bare and free from dust / dirt.
Turn on the moisture meter and press the instrument directly onto the surface of the material being tested ensuring that all of the electrode spring loaded pins are fully compressed. Read the moisture meter on the outer scale. 5.5% or below is considered a dry concrete slab.
On a rough surface, take a number of readings in close proximity to one another. If the readings vary, always use the one with the highest value.
On a smooth surface it is also recommended that a number of tests in close proximity to each other be carried out, as the distribution of moisture tends to become erratic as concrete dries out. Use only the highest reading.

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