ᐅ Question about Moisture and Laminate Flooring

Created on: 7 Aug 2010 19:16
-
-
Hello,

I’m new to the forum and have an urgent question!
We renovated a basement room.
In the old room:
- Earth floor with concrete blocks and impregnated boards on top (suitable for damp rooms)
- Small gap between wall and floor
- Wood paneling covering walls and ceiling
- Carpet flooring

The gap between the wooden boards and the wall is behind the wood paneling! (Moisture possibly coming from below can circulate between the wall/wood paneling and ceiling/wood paneling.)

New situation:
- Removed wood paneling
- Walls replastered
- Carpet removed, laminate installed
- New door installed

After about 2-3 months, mold appeared on the baseboards in two corners. 😱 Only the baseboards show mold, not the walls! Could this be because the gap needs to be kept open so moisture can escape? Should the baseboards be removed?
Is that enough, or do impregnated boards also allow moisture through and must the laminate be removed as well?
The relative humidity is about 60% with the baseboards installed and about 50% with the baseboards removed.

I’m asking for help and thank you in advance.

Best regards,
oh!-1
M
MODERATOR
11 Aug 2010 23:02
Unfortunately, I cannot say whether the slots for ventilating the floor will be sufficient; I think you will need to try it out.

For an architect, it is difficult to assess whether a solution that is not technically proper might still work – we always tend to focus on doing exactly the right thing (as I mentioned above: sealing, insulating…). However, there are always situations, especially during renovations, where you pause and think: “Aha, so that actually worked without causing damage for quite some time?”
O
oh!-1
12 Aug 2010 15:43
Thank you very much for your help and patience! 🙂
I will give it a try. 🙄
I sincerely thank you and send my best regards
oh!
C
Christiana-1
5 Oct 2013 09:09
However, moisture and wood, especially for parquet flooring, are an unfavorable combination.
L
Louis-1
18 May 2014 07:38
Moisture and laminate flooring are really incompatible. I would have avoided laminate here and instead installed a screed with tiles. Then, a carpet on top of that.