FLOR Carpet Tiles Destroyed My Flooring & Subfloor (Do not Use Them Underneath These Situations!!)

As I shared final Friday, the ground and subfloor in our house gymnasium are destroyed. I’ve been noticing a hump going by the middle of the ground within the room since final summer time, about 4 months after I put in the FLOR carpet tiles in our house gymnasium in February 2023.

I gained’t rehash the entire particulars. You can read about it here. Lengthy story brief, I assumed it was because of the drought final yr inflicting our perimeter basis to sink as the bottom dried up, which in flip, was leaving the piers within the heart of the ground to push the ground up. However even after the drought was over and the rains got here, it didn’t get higher. Then this yr, as the nice and cozy and humid climate got here with spring and summer time, the hump within the ground began getting even worse.

After I lastly took the carpet tiles up, I noticed moisture beneath them, and the center hump within the ground seemed like this. I positioned that board throughout the hump so you can actually see simply how unhealthy it’s.

Since I initially thought the issue was with the muse, I saved the appointment with the muse man on Friday, although I used to be pretty sure it wasn’t a basis situation after discovering the entire moisture underneath the carpet tiles.

And positive sufficient, I used to be proper. He got here, he did his inspection, and he rereported that our basis was completely effective and wanted no changes or repairs. He suspected, as I did, that the issue was the FLOR carpet tiles not permitting the ground to “breathe”, thus trapping condensation beneath because the cool air from inside the home met the recent, humid air underneath the home. After trying underneath the home, he did suppose that we would presumably have a plumbing leak in a pipe working underneath the house gymnasium ground. He primarily based this on his commentary that the filth underneath a joint within the PVC pipe seemed darker than the remainder of the filth, and he thought that could possibly be due to moisture because of a leak. However he wasn’t positive, so he instructed I name a plumber to test it out.

I used to be grateful to study that our basis was in good condition. In spite of everything, a defective basis can doubtlessly trigger points like cracking drywall, and even precise structural points. So a minimum of that information was constructive. And as he instructed, instantly after he left, I known as the plumber to make an appointment. So yesterday (Monday), two guys got here to do a strain take a look at on our plumbing and so they discovered that we did, in truth, have a leak. So the skinniest man suited up and crawled underneath our home, into our very cramped crawl house, to look out the leak.

Aspect observe: If I have been to construct a model new pier and beam home, I’d make sure that the crawl house was a minimum of two ft excessive, if no more. I like having a pier and beam home, however on the identical time, I really feel so responsible each time somebody has to crawl into our cramped crawl house. The opposite man couldn’t match. Most males can’t match underneath our home. So for those who’re constructing a brand new pier and beam home, maintain that in thoughts! Anyway…

After about ten minutes of crawling round in our tiny crawl house, he discovered the leak. He confirmed me a video of it. There was a really tiny, very sluggish drip in a joint underneath the kitchen sink. And to be clear, the kitchen is a number of rooms away from the house gymnasium.

After he repaired the tiny drip underneath the kitchen sink, they did one other strain take a look at, and all the things was effective. In order that’s the one leak we had. And each of them stated there’s no manner {that a} tiny, sluggish drip underneath the kitchen sink might trigger that sort of harm in a ground a number of rooms away. In reality, the man who needed to crawl underneath there stated that our crawl house, although it’s very cramped, can be very “clear”. That was his phrase. So it’s not moist and muddy underneath there.

So again to the house gymnasium, there’s no different harm within the room. There are not any window issues, no ceiling/roof issues, no leaks wherever else. In order that simply leaves one wrongdoer — the FLOR carpet tiles.

As a number of of you instructed in my put up on Friday, the issue is that our home is outdated, it’s constructed on a pier and beam basis, and the crawl house is vented to the skin. I do know for a indisputable fact that the subfloor on this room (and in all components of our home that also have the unique hardwood flooring) is simply 1″ lumber, like if I went and purchased a bunch of 1″ x 10″ and 1″ x 8″ boards and used these as a subfloor. That’s precisely what they did again when this home is constructed. And it’s very that there isn’t a vapor barrier underneath the subfloor or between the subfloor and the hardwood flooring, though the areas by which I’ve taken up the unique hardwood flooring (i.e., the hallway) did have tar paper between the subfloor and hardwood flooring. I might think about that might be thought of a subpar vapor barrier by at the moment’s requirements, and I might additionally think about that 75-year-old tar paper isn’t as efficient at the moment because it was the day it was put down model new.

So whereas these aren’t commonplace constructing practices at the moment, it was commonplace again then. And all of it held up completely discover for seventy-five years till I got here alongside and put FLOR carpet tiles down on the ground in that room. And since we stay in such a damp local weather, and our crawl house is vented to the outside, and we maintain our home very cool (because of Matt’s well being), placing these rubber-backed, non-breathable carpet tiles down on that ground created the right setting for condensation to get trapped and have nowhere to go. In order the subfloor and flooring soaked up that moisture over the past 17 months, it began bowing and bending across the ground joists.

Sadly, there’s just one repair. The flooring and the subfloor should get replaced. There’s no fixing that ground. It’s too badly broken to salvage. Since I eliminated the carpet tiles on Friday, the ground has dried out utterly. There’s not any moisture in any respect trapped within the ground. Now that the ground can “breathe”, all of that moisture has evaporated. But it surely’s not just like the subfloor or ground boards straightened out as they dried. They dried in that very same precise form they have been when the ground was stuffed with trapped moisture, and we nonetheless have a hill happening the center of our ground.

I’m not going to lie. This makes me need to cry. I haven’t cried but, and I’m actually making an attempt to maintain an excellent perspective about it, however I’ve my moments the place I come fairly shut. It’s simply so disappointing to spend a lot time on a room, solely to have such a catastrophic failure in just a bit over a yr after ending the room. However I’ll placed on my large woman pants and face the problem. I’ll enable myself to have a minimum of one little cry over it, although.

This isn’t one thing that I’m going to leap into straight away. The excellent news is that there’s no hazard of structural failure. Even when the ground was stuffed with moisture, it was nonetheless structurally sound. There have been no spongy areas the place we have been involved we would fall by. And now that it has absolutely dried out, it appears as structurally sound as the ground in the remainder of the home. However the hill is a severe tripping hazard, and I’ve stumbled over it a number of instances already.

So for now, I’ll have an excellent cry over it, wipe my tears, after which concentrate on ending my studio and studio lavatory. These are nonetheless my priorities. After these are executed, I’ll give you a plan for changing the subfloor and ground within the house gymnasium. I’m undecided what half I’ll do myself, if any, so I’ll simply must assess that once I’m prepared. I’ll do all of it myself (with assist, after all), or I may do the demo of the present ground and let the professionals put within the new subfloor and flooring. Or I may allow them to do all of it. We’ll see. It is a disappointment, for positive. However I gained’t let it derail me utterly.

In order that’s the story of our house gymnasium ground, and my expertise with FLOR carpet tiles. Our little house gymnasium seemed nice for about 4 months earlier than issues began going unhealthy. I simply want I had realized what should be blamed for it final summer time. Maybe I might have taken the tiles up in time. Goodbye, my fairly little house gymnasium. It’ll most likely be fairly some time earlier than you look fairly once more.

FYI, once I began researching if my FLOR carpet tiles might presumably be the reason for my ground points, I got here throughout this video. Whereas it’s a unique state of affairs, it confirmed that the tiles have been the issue, particularly after basis and plumbing points have been timed out. So I need to cross this alongside to any of you contemplating vinyl flooring. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/aT7QSVzViytNnag9/?mibextid=W40cHY

Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I transform and enhance the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do the vast majority of the work on the home on my own. You can learn more about me here.