I don’t have enough time to go into the detailed reasons why moisture is so critical when you think about flooring, but I wanted to give a quick note about sealer.
If you have concrete floors – use a concrete sealer.
Did you notice how simple (and if I do say so myself elegant) that statement is?
Use a concrete sealer if you have concrete floors. It is cheap insurance!! (Of course cheap is a relative term.)
Can you imagine spending $5000.00 on a floor including the materials and the high quality adhesive (yes there are MASSIVE differences in adhesive) and trying to scrimp on the last $1000.00 for the sealer which can make or break your investment?
Let me tell you I empathize with the notion that $1000.00 is cheap insurance, but I believe over the lifespan of that floor it is the right thing to do.
Do you think your floors will last 10 years? 20 years? Longer?
For this quick exercise let’s assume the lifespan is 10 years which is probably half the real potential of most floors.
That means over 10 years you have only spent $100.00 per year for sealer. That’s not bad.
Over 10 years which is 120 months you really are only spending $8.33 cents per month to insure success. This is nothing.
And Yes, while it may seem trite to break this down by the day, 10 years * 365 days = 3650 days and $1000/365 = only 27 cents per day. Are you kidding me? For about 1 quarter you are going to be able to have the benefit of the most premium sealer on the market?
As my friends in New York would say fogedaboutid! (forget about it for you non-native New Yorkers)
This is a no brainer. If you have concrete you need sealer. Don’t risk your $5000.00 investment over a quarter per day. Skip 1 lunch during the month and you are even money.
I hope this helps you have a more successful project.
