jade3•2mo ago

My first boss said I'd never need a moisture meter for slab work in Arizona, but after a $5,000 callback job in Phoenix last summer, I learned he was dead wrong.

Has anyone else had a similar hard lesson about checking moisture levels in dry climates?

3 comments

3 Comments

Feel that pain. Had a client in Tucson swear their slab was bone dry after a week. We went ahead with glue down, and three months later the edges were lifting like crazy. The installer swore it was our product, but the meter showed high moisture at the perimeter. Cost us a full replacement to keep the relationship. Never assume, even in the desert.

paulb9812d ago

Wait, did you say a week and they thought it was bone dry? That's not even close to enough time in Arizona, especially with a slab. The moisture doesn't just evaporate out of concrete that fast, no matter how hot it gets outside. You really need to let those slabs cure for at least 28 days before you even think about testing, and even then you have to do a proper mat test or use a meter. The heat actually makes it worse sometimes because the surface dries quick but the water gets trapped deeper in the slab. I learned that one the expensive way on a commercial job where we rushed things and ended up with adhesion failure on the edges. Never trust the look or feel of a slab out here.

spencer6642mo ago

A week? In Tucson? That's just asking for trouble, even with their low humidity. The ground holds onto moisture way longer than people think out here. You'd think the heat would bake it dry, but it just traps it under the surface sometimes.