ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 47
COLUMN BUILDING SCIENCES
PHOTO 4 & FIGURE 5 Stem Wall Foundation. It is a lot easier to handle a stem wall foun-
dation where the edge of the slab is wrapped and the slab is well elevated.
FIGURE 6 Separate the Concrete from the Ground. This needs to be done from underneath and from the sides. We also need dry concrete. We need low water-to-cement
ratio concrete or we need to wait for the concrete to dry before we install flooring.
PHOTO 5 Glue Down Wood Floor. A decade old and still going strong. Amazing what
works if the concrete is dry when the wood goes down and stays dry over time.
Wood Floor
Concrete Slab
Capillary Break
Beneath Bottom
Plate
Wood Baseboard
Wood Flooring
Concrete
Slab
Cementitious
Rendering
Polyethylene Vapor
Barrier
Granular Base
Sub-Slab Vapor
Barrier Wraps End
of Slab at Slab
Perimeter
Damp
Proofing
Below Grade
Unfortunately, most residential
concrete slab foundations have a
w/c ratio higher than 0.6. To get
to less than 0.6 you typically need
a lubricant to allow you to get the
concrete out of the truck and have
it placed with a pump ("superplasticizer"). With a stiff mix,
folks always try to add water to the
concrete in order to place it. And
if you don't watch them continuously, the water gets added and
you end up with crappy concrete
with a lot of water in it. Adding
what seems like a little water can
do a lot of damage.
With the superplasticizer, there is
no incentive to add water and you
get the stiff mix (low w/c ratio) you
need.
The water in the concrete issue
is less of a problem with thin slabs
because with a thin slab there is
not a lot of concrete mass with
a lot of water in the mass of the
concrete to begin with. But where
slabs are thickened for structural
reasons, wood flooring problems
can occur (Photo 6). Again, this all
can be avoided with a low w/c ratio
concrete.
So what do you do if you don't have
a low w/c concrete and you don't
have time? And even worse, what do
you do if you don't have an effective
vapor barrier and capillary break?
Well, you go back to the old way of
doing things. You install a topside
vapor barrier. But you do it smart
with new materials.
N OVEM BER 2014
PHOTO 6 Thickened Slabs. The water in the concrete issue is less of a problem with thin slabs
because with a thin slab there is not a lot of concrete mass with a lot of water in the mass of the
concrete to begin with. But where slabs are thickened for structural reasons, wood flooring problems
can occur. Again, this all can be avoided with a low
w/c ratio concrete.
ashrae.org
ASHRAE JOURNAL
47
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASHRAE Journal - November 2014
Contents
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - Cover1
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - Cover2
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 1
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 2
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - Contents
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 4
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 5
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 6
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 7
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 8
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 9
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 10
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 11
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 12
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 13
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 14
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 15
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 16
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 17
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 18
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 19
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 20
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 21
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 22
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 23
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 24
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 25
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 26
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 27
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 28
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 29
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 30
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 31
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 32
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 33
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 34
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 35
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 36
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 37
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 38
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 39
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 40
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 41
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 42
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 43
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 44
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 45
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 46
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 47
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 48
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 49
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 50
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 51
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 52
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 53
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 54
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 55
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 56
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 57
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 58
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 59
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 60
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 61
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 62
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 63
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 64
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 65
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - 66
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ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - Cover3
ASHRAE Journal - November 2014 - Cover4
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