Did you know that a high pH in your concrete, together with the presence of moisture, is a sure indicator that your flooring will fail? In this post we’ll take a look at how you can lower the pH in your concrete, and create a permanent solution to the moisture, eliminating the combined threat of high pH and delamination of your flooring.

pH and your concrete

When concrete is poured, it normally has a pH between 12 and 13. This can present problems to various projects, as virtually all manufacturers of vinyl, carpet, adhesives, coatings and engineered levelling compounds, amongst others, require a concrete floor to have a pH value ranging between 9 and 10.

Luckily the surface pH of concrete can be determined with a quick and inexpensive test using pH indicator strips, as shown above.

If you find the pH of your concrete floor is too high, you should keep in mind that high surface alkalinity can react with floor covering components, their backing or the adhesive used to adhere them to the surface, which in turn could cause your flooring to fail.

To help lower the pH of your concrete flooring, you can consider using a light acid wash, or if that’s not possible, you can also wait several months since carbonation in the concrete can cause the pH levels to drop to acceptable levels.

However, these may only be temporary fixes because any moisture in the concrete floor will rise to the surface, causing the pH levels to increase again, which in turn can cause your flooring to fail, regardless of the counter measures you take.

A permanent solution

To ensure the success of your coatings, you will have to deal with the concrete’s moisture levels and lock it into the concrete with a permanent moisture barrier. Densi Crete & Moisture Proof fill the capillaries of the concrete and will halt the rise of moisture to the surface once and for all, therefore at the same time eliminating the pH levels rising at the surface.

Densi Crete and Moisture Proof can be:

• applied to almost any concrete product containing 10% Portland cement.
• can be sprayed on to existing concrete or concrete at time of pour.
• a time saver as they are foot traffic-able after just 1 hour of application.
• ready for coatings within 24 hours of application to existing concrete or within 14 days of application if used at time of pour.
• a money saver as they are more than 21% cheaper than other waterproofing membrane methods.

For more information about DuraCore’s range of products, please feel free to contact us or visit www.duracore.com.au. Alternatively, to find your nearest distributor please click here.