Aug/096
How Can I Protect A Carpet From Moisture On The Underside?
I want to put inexpensive carpet on the floor of a storage building that has a plywood floor resting directly on the beams. Water is somehow seeping into the plywood occasionally – it appears to be from below (there is no drip from above), but underneath the building is bone dry, and because of the construction of the floor it is not feasible to tear it up and determine the source. I’d like to just ignore the problem and put in the carpet anyway. Is there a barrier material that would be suitable to put under the carpeting?
(I’m looking for a seat-of-the-pants, stopgap kind of thing — this is only meant to last 4, maybe 8 years at best, and needs to be fairly cheap. Yes, I know it’s not the ideal solution … I just need to prevent the carpet from mildewing, I don’t care what happens to the plywood since eventually the floor will need to be fixed anyway.)
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5:05 am on August 10th, 2009
Use a heavy building plastic dont staple it use glue to hold it in place. This is a temporary measure it wont stop the moisture underneath the building, if you can get an airspace underneath it might help.
7:57 am on August 10th, 2009
Use exterior grade carpet and make sure the underside of the shed is well ventilated. A barrier would just hold in the moisture.
2:41 pm on August 10th, 2009
Just put down a sheet of plastic like they do when they lay hardwood floors to keep them from absorbing humidity.
You can buy rolls of it in any hardware store.
7:14 pm on August 10th, 2009
ITS A STORAGE SHED?
WHY CARPET?
GET THE SHED HIGHER OFF THE GROUND REMOVE THE CARPET AND CHECK IF IT GETS WET WITHOUT THE CARPET.
IF IT IS HIGHER OFF THE GROUND AND IT IS DAMP THEN THE LEAK COMES FOR THE WALLS OR ROOF.
12:52 am on August 11th, 2009
You can probably use carpet protection film for this. Its a pressure sensitive plastic sheeting with adhesive on one side that normally sticks to the top of the carpet to protect it form soiling. However, you should be able to use it to stick to either the bottom of the carpet as a barrier or the plywood as the adhesive is pretty sticky.
Here is a site where you can get it: http://www.plasticover.com
Please note, however, that you are effectively shutting off the airflow/ventilation that was coming through the carpeting. Without that, the water may not dissipate and the problem could worsen.
12:58 am on August 11th, 2009
i had the same problem kinda in my basement and we just put down garbage bags as a vapor barrier… seems to work for us