During the last two years “reality” shows, “makeover” shows, “remodel” shows and every other kind of “do over” show has made an appearance on television. It appears real life is now becoming a unique art form. The “Hollywood Makeover” I’m talking about is a flooring disaster. If the scenario were not so catastrophic and expensive, it would be really humorous.
Your friendly consultant was asked to take a journey to Hollywood, the true la-la land of Southern California. The purpose of my visit was to evaluate a house in the Hollywood Hills that was in the process of being completely renovated. A Hollywood starlet, of the highest magnitude, had just purchased the residence.
I was called in to inspect and evaluate the concrete substrate and any other conditions that might affect the installation of the new bamboo floor being placed in virtually every room on the ground floor of the residence. My assigned task was to properly advise the client regarding the proper preparation of the concrete slab for the subsequent bamboo flooring installation.
The house was unique in one respect. Eighty percent of the house was constructed of concrete slab on grade. The remaining 20% of the substrate was a plywood sub-floor, installed over a sleeper system. This sleeper system had been placed on top of the original out-door patio. The floorcovering contractor had already determined the plywood materials were satisfactory and, since the plywood was placed at the appropriate level to create a flat floor and the plywood was at the same elevation with the concrete substrate, the flooring contractor believed there would be no installation problems.
You know the old saying “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” That was certainly true in this case. I advised the flooring contractor that he should remove the existing plywood floor and find out what’s underneath it, prior to installing the new 3,000 sq. ft. of bamboo floor. The flooring contractor discussed this issue with the general contractor, and they determined, that because of the time frame, this form of intrusive investigation would not be necessary.
My answer to both contractors was, “You could be very sorry, because you don’t know what you’re getting in to.” Two weeks later, the bamboo floor was installed, sanded, finished, and it looked superb. Well, you know what the two contractors said to each other don’t you? “The consultant didn’t know what he was talking about.” Everybody walked away happy.
About 60 days later, I got a call from the flooring contractor asking me to return to the site and evaluate the family room and living room. The bamboo floor was experiencing severe cupping and delamination of the bamboo plank from the plywood sub floor. Intrusive inspection revealed a significant amount of moisture was migrating into the plywood sub-flooring system from below the plywood material.
Due to my investigation, the failed bamboo and plywood underlayment was removed. What we discovered was a bit unusual. The plywood had been installed over the top of a sleeper system made of 2”x 4’s placed on the concrete on the wide side of the 2 x 4. The 2 x 4s were 18” on center. The space between the 2 x 4’s was filled with sand. Underneath the sand and 2 x 4 sleeper system was a concrete substrate that was the original outdoor patio. This house had originally been built in the late 1940’s. The residence had been completely remodeled at least twice. It was very difficult to determine what the slab had been used for originally.
The old patio slab was 6” thick. There was no PVC membrane underneath the old patio slab. Since the slab was now the family room of the newly renovated home, the decision was made not to remove the existing concrete but to remediate the situation by placing a new cementitious cap on top of the existing slab.
Much discussion took place about the proper method to achieve the desired result. Your wise old consultant advised the flooring contractor and the General Contractor, that they should use a dense cementitious self-leveling material reinforced with pea gravel and, if necessary, wire mesh. The difference in elevation of the floor went from .25” at the edge of the living room to approximately 3” at the exterior of the slab. This type of concrete remediation is accomplished on a frequent basis but is generally performed by a knowledgeable and professional concrete restoration contractor.
Since the realtor and general contractor (who had done the original work) were on the hook for the cost, they decided the general contractor would do the concrete remediation himself. Instead of following the wise old consultant’s suggestion, the general contractor proceeded to place a PVC membrane (plastic sheet) on top of the original concrete substrate and pour a 3” cap of lightweight concrete at the exterior. The general contractor tapered the lightweight concrete out to a 0” level and then covered the entire surface with Ardex Feather Finish. Unfortunately, the general contractor did not wait long enough for the lightweight concrete to properly dry before he applied the Ardex Feather Finish. The result was severe cracking and de-bonding of the Ardex Feather Finish from the concrete and substantial cracking of the 3000-PSI concrete placed over the PVC membrane.
Bear in mind, we are now 60 days past the close of escrow, for a multi-million-dollar home and the starlet will be returning from Europe in two weeks. The general contractor panics and proceeds to place another topcoat of Ardex Feather Finish to mask the cracking and delamination.
The floor-covering contractor arrives on the scene, identifies the cracking and delamination conditions and refuses to install the new bamboo flooring without a written waiver from the general contractor. Presto! Like magic, the waiver appears, the floor covering installer installs, sands, and finishes the 600 sq. ft. of new bamboo flooring and walks away with a check.
The flooring contractor calls the old consultant and says, “Guess what! Everything went well and the floor is done, and we got our money.” I advised him not to hold his breath and to cash the check in a hurry, because the problem wasn’t over.
Sure enough, about 90 days later, the old consultant gets a call. “We need you to come back and look at this floor again. We’re still having moisture problems.” I go back and evaluate the moisture content; the bamboo floor reflects about a 62% moisture content, reveals extensive peaking, substantial cupping and is delaminating from the plywood substrate.
A third intrusive investigation is performed and guess what. There is still moisture coming from the original patio substrate. Not only were there perforations in the PVC membrane placed between the two layers of concrete, but the new concrete applications did not cure properly and the placement of the PVC membrane between the new concrete and Ardex assembly trapped the moisture within the new concrete assembly. Needless to say, the young starlet becomes really unhappy when she finds out that this is the third failure of this assembly.
Ho hum, your wise old consultant was again asked to make an evaluation and recommendation. The easy part about this recommendation was that I’d already made it twice before. The existing flooring and the improperly placed concrete repair were removed. The Concrete substrate was shot blasted and allowed to dry for 10 days. We used floor fans and a negative air exhaust to assist the HVAC in removal of interior air, drying of the air and properly acclimating the residence.
The original substrate was primed with a penetrating sealer, to harden the surface of the concrete and enhance the bond of the new concrete pour. This time, a professional concrete restoration contractor was retained to place the concrete in an appropriate manner. The new aggregate was enhanced with self-leveling concrete material, was placed, and allowed to cure for 10 days. The flooring contractor returned to the site, installed his third floor, and walked away with yet another check.
It’s been almost a year now, and there have been no additional problems with this installation. Prior to writing this article, I contacted the flooring contractor and asked if there had been any further repercussions. He advised me, he had checked up on the floor about six months before, and everything was working properly. The young starlet was extremely pleased because she had a beautiful floor throughout her home.
The moral of this story is: You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear and the least expensive remediation, most of the time, will be the most expensive remediation — especially when you’re dealing with concrete substrates that need to be repaired. With today’s advancing technologies and the requirements for water-based materials, the quickest fix, will generally never be the best fix.
So, remember the next time you’re tempted to take a shortcut, in sub-floor preparation, you will not be unlucky and have the failure be the result of somebody else’s improper actions. This lucky flooring contractor managed to collect three checks from the same installation. Most of my experience indicates that most times, the flooring installation contractor is the one who ends up paying the freight. But of course, this lucky flooring contractor had the wise old consultant on his side.
Remember, the need for speed and unbridled urgency will more often that not, cost more money and almost always require additional repair and remediation.
