The Simple Way to Test Your Concrete Subfloor Moisture Condition

FLOOR ED

Jason Spangler Wagner Meters’ Flooring Division Manager Jason has more than 25 years’ experience in sales and sales management across a broad spectrum of industries. He has successfully launched a variety of products to the market, including the original Rapid RH ® concrete moisture test. Jason, who received an MBA from West Texas A&M University in November 2018, has extensive industry involvement, including the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA), the International Certified Flooring Installers Association (CFI), and is Vice Chairman of Associations for The Flooring Contractors Association (FCICA). Call Wagner Meters today at (844) 533-9100 and ask for Jason, or visit

www.wagnermeters.com.

The Simple Way to Test Your Concrete Subfloor Moisture Condition

You can’t avoid it. You have to do it. If you don’t want your flooring installation to potentially fall into the hundreds of millions of dollars per year lost to moisture-related flooring failure, you must test the concrete subfloor for moisture before installing the flooring.

The good news is that with the relative humidity (RH) test method and a tool like the Wagner Meters’ Rapid RH L6 in-situ concrete moisture test, taking an accurate measure of the moisture condition of a concrete subfloor is stupid easy. No master’s degree from MIT needed.

The Rapid RH L6 concrete moisture test is designed for real-world use, where project timelines demand efficient installation and readings from the concrete sensors.

You can use the easy-to-follow instructions that come with your Rapid RH L6 concrete test or follow the short instructional video to learn how to install and read the Rapid RH L6 sensors. In case you’re skeptical about how easy it can be, here’s the micro-version:

1. Drill the hole. The starter kit comes with a drill bit to ensure you drill the hole to the right specs. 2. Clean the debris from the hole. Yeah, the starter kit has a brush and vacuum attachment to help you with this as well. 3. Insert the L6 sensor into the bottom of the hole. Use the insertion tool provided (seriously, Wagner Meters include everything you need). 4. Remove the protective cover on the sensor cap and snap that cap onto the sensor hole. 5. Now, get on with your day. See your favorite opera, binge watch some superhero show — or even move on to a new task or a new job site.

For the more tech-minded, you should know that the Rapid RH L6 is really a “smart” sensor. The Total Reader is Bluetoothenabled, so it can deliver the sensor readings to Wagner Meters’ free DataMaster app on your phone or tablet.

After a scant 24 hours, the RH sensors have equilibrated, and you can now start taking readings. Other types of concrete moisture test systems can require a 72-hour waiting period before you can take readings.

In addition to this fast turn-around time, the Rapid RH L6 has made reading the RH sensors and recording their measurements easy too. You just remove the cover of the sensor cap and insert the provided Total Reader tool into the cap. The Total Reader’s bright LCD display will show you the RH percentage.

How you record the data is up to you. You can paper and pen it on the plotting chart that comes with your L6 sensors. For the more tech-minded, you should know that the Rapid RH L6 is really a “smart” sensor. The Total Reader is Bluetooth-enabled, so it can deliver the sensor readings to Wagner Meters’ free DataMaster app on your phone or tablet.

The DataMaster app doesn’t just make recording the sensor readings efficient; it also provides an audit record and report that lets you easily validate the data you collected (and when it was collected) to anyone who asks.

RH Testing Is the Most Reliable Indicator of a Subfloor’s Moisture Condition

Having an RH test that’s as easy to use as the Rapid RH L6 is a huge boom to your productivity in installing and reading the sensors, and in your confidence that you’ve recorded the results accurately with the DataMaster app. But these perks only matter because the RH test has no equal when it comes to determining the subfloor’s moisture condition and whether it’s ready to take on the floor covering.

Decades of controlled, scientific testing have taught us that relative humidity within the concrete slab has a known relationship to how well the floor will hold up over time. Testing out of Scandinavian universities in the 1990s is the basis for the specifications set out in ASTM F2170 (Standard Test Method for Determining Relative Humidity in Concrete Floor Slabs Using in situ Probes), first approved in 2002.

As RH use in the field continued, additional industry research provided the scientific foundation for ASTM to approve a reduction in the waiting period to take a reading from three long days to 24 hours. Yeah, science!

The point is, let the folks at ASTM worry about the science behind RH testing on concrete subfloor slabs. Your job is to find the most reliable, efficient, and easy to use RH test to ensure the slab isn’t holding excessive moisture before you install the flooring. Fortunately, you can rely on Wagner Meters’ Rapid RH L6 to handle the science and provide the ease of use you want.

Still have questions about RH testing or the L6 Smart Sensors?

You’re in luck. You’ll find a vast library of articles and videos at rapidrh.com that can help you dig as deep into the science behind RH concrete moisture testing as you want, or just guide you through conduct your own RH tests and recording the findings with the DataMaster app. ❚

Decades of controlled, scientific testing have taught us that relative humidity within the concrete slab has a known relationship to how well the floor will hold up over time.