Not sure how it's applied. It may be over dirt. It's level with the top of the concrete in the other sections. Fir I suspect. I put 3/4" oak on a concrete porch in a rental. Laid down a sheet of 3/4" plywood directly on the concrete (didn't fasten it) and then nailed the oak to the plywood. I thought it was a kind of goofy experiment when I did it but it's been holding up about 8 yrs now.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Yeah, that is better than what we did. We glued it directly on the crete. Are you pretty dry there?

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I did a floor leveling project way, way back when I was a misguided youth. It separated under a counter but the tile was pretty and nobody cared. I am older now.

They always specify a moisture barrier between hardwood floors and the subfloor. Then you drive hundreds of fastenings through it. So I switched to using plastic vapour barrier as one.

Not because of any further reduction in moisture transfer as much as I thought it originally might eliminate or reduce squeeks. It seems to do that well. Plus provide a slippier surface to manipulate and drive the hardwood into position. Speeding up the job or making it easier is not a downside at the same time.

About the only partially totally sane hardwood to use is the hardest specis of wood that you like and it being laminated to plywood basically at the factory. It is expensive though but the humidity here swings too much in general. In comparison to normal hardwood it is very stable and enough of a laminate thickness to resand carefully a few times with a multi head type sander eventually.

You are getting away with murder because of the humidity levels where you live. I even do things like pouring concrete on posts and putting sleepers on it plus sheathing them with conventional treated lumber for decks.

That way the owner gets to just change the wooden surface components out every fifteen to twenty years. Two many people have fallen through rotted wood decks to ignore. Any exterior wood here in general rots fairly fast and there is no way to keep paint on it unless you make special provisons. I think I am the only guy doing decks this way locally on occasion.

In some ways it is a very hard climate here for wood. We also have the highest water tables in the province locally. This eliminates use of wood flooring in basements as far as I am concerned. Concrete with a 5,000 pound or higher rating is functionally waterproof. Still you may get sweating because of any temperature differential between the ground and the basement room. So I guess with enough monetary expenditure and pre planning it is safe enough. You would also need two inches of the harder grade of closed cell Styrofoam under the basement floor as well to eliminate the sweating potential. Any shortcuts would cost you here and in many areas of the states as well.

There are some plastic materials now for decking, made from recycled plastics.

I have seen the plastic product or perhaps just one of them. But figure the ulta violet from the sun will get the plastic. I doubt in the name of profit they would add the appropriate chemicals to lessen the effect that much. I think it is expensive as well.

Plastic has but two enemies the suns ulta violet component and heat. Thermal expansion and contraction issues have to be considered as well. It can also get brittle when cold. This may be more dependant on the type of recycled plastic. It also may become just brittle with age.

Materials like redwood and cedar are probably the best bet for the do it yourselfer. The treated lumber here usually is little more than cull grade and inadaquatly impregnated as well.

I'd almost be tempted to use polyurethane construction adhesive to glue the pavers to the concrete. Everything swept, washed, and dried first of course.

There's a guy around here who builds stone walls using concrete blocks filled with concrete, of course, as his foundation and then covers them with flat stone, glued on with said adhesive. Did one on a house I work on often and it's doing fine years later.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Clay content is too high to block below ground locally. Even the block suppliers discourage it. At the same time backfilling with sand should work. Sand is about 40.00 a yard delivered though.

Some of todays adhesives are so good I wonder if their chemical composition is really safe for the guys using it. When you can even glue wet things together is interesting.

Oops. Construction is filled with all sorts of opportunities to screw up badly. I often agonize about something I did, wondering if my concern is valid, that is 'will there be a problem', or am I neurotic over nothing.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I phrased that wrong. He poured a concrete footing on the ground and then used the blocks for his 'foundation' for the upright wall. Foundation not really being the correct word for the latter.

I was curious about the safety of the polyurethane adhesives. The older style 'liquid nails' type had a much stronger smell of flammable, volatile compounds. Much less user friendly as you had maybe 5 minutes or less to put things together or the stuff would harden into a mass that would add thickness to the joint. Whereas the newer polyurethane types will stay wet for 30 to 60 minutes. The MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) does indicate fumes are not good nor is skin contact. I regularly am exposed to both, don't wash my hands immediately as they recommend (some kind of solvent is needed). Perhaps I should start wearing the latex gloves more.

http://henkelconsumerinfo.com/products/henkel.datasheets.Search.pdf?BUSAREA=0006&DOCTYPE=MSDS&LANG=EN&COUNTRY=US&VKORG=3450&MATNR=1390595

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Poured 4 bags of leveler on top of the concrete today.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Looks like it flowed out well.
Now you just have to smooth out the transition from floor leveler to the concrete. Any ideas?

It's basically level at the transition, at least enough for laminate.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Fix-All territory for most soft flooring contractors. They don't seemed to be concerned about moisture most of the time.

I am a commercial tile and stone PM/Est, we would WP it with something like CBP RedGard at this point and then burn a coat of "thin-set" or "speed-set" down and feather the final transitions out a couple hours before we started setting tile. The RedGard membrane will stop 11.99lbs/sq ft/24hrs of moisture transmission, 12lbs is standing water.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)