Sealing concrete slab with drylok or some liquid applied membrane?
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I have a home on a concrete slab and the previous owners put down a tile floor with some adhesive directly onto the concrete. I can pull the tiles up incredibly easy and I’m assuming the adhesive never probably set due to the moisture of the slab. Can I paint some sort of drylok product or membrane over the slab to seal and prevent moisture from ruining any floor I put over the slab? I want to either tile or put vinyl plank with a vapor barrier. The entire home is a slab so I just wonder if I “seal” the top with some sort of liquid barrier – is that bad for the slab, where does that moisture go? Thanks in advance!
Replies
When you say the previous owner put down a "tile" floor with "adhesive" do you mean they put down a lvt tile floor with glue or a ceramic tile floor with mortar?
Is there efflorescence or other signs of moisture accumulation under the tile?
Is the glue/mortar separating from the tile or from the concrete? What does the coverage look like?
Have you done a moisture test on the concrete?
I have not done a moisture test. By a moisture test do you mean use a hygrometer or tape some poly to the concrete to see if moisture builds up? There wasn't mortar used from what I can tell - the coverage of what I'm guessing adhesive doesn't look awful, I can see trowel lines, but as soon as I knocked one tile loose, I could almost smell the moisture and the adhesive still looks like it hasn't cured - its almost still malleable - this floor was probably installed 15 years ago. I've attached some pictures of the 1 tile I peeled back. On the right hand side is where I removed a different floor that was covered with a cabinet and I'm about to start removing this tile floor.