First off, I'd like to thank for all the responce's now! I've been reading on the forum for about 6 months now and have learned alot so far.

I was in construction for about 6 years and am an avid remodeler of my home. This is going to be my first install of Engineered wood on concrete above grade. I will be installing about 1000 sf of Southern Traditions River Ridge edition using Chemrex cx-1000 for the adhesive.

First, I was told that it wasnt really necessary to put down a moisture barrier and that I could to the redneck style of a moisture test by using a 2'x2' 6ml plastic and some ducktape. Is this ok or adequate enough??

Second, I am more than likely going to need to use some sort of self leveler for the floor and was wondering if the stuff from Home Depot (RS levelquik) was any good. I want to do this only once and dont want to have any problem later down the road. Also, do I need to skim coat the rest of the floor for better adhesion to the wood. Ive also got a lot of sheetrock/mud that looks like it got into the pores of the concrete and its hard to get out. I might be getting too anal about this but I want to do it right so any help would be greatly apriciated!

Thanks!

the HD stuff is actually pretty good..ive used it..spreads nice and finds level quickly.

as for concrete prep..make sure the concrete is clean.. i wouldnt be overly anal about "impregnated" effect of spackle etc..

but make sure dust, oils,,excessive adhesive etc are removed..the concrete must be ready for the leveler..

follow the levelrs instructions..you willsee they are basic...vacuum clean and go...

grind any excess residues

Is it good to glue to? I have a job coming up that needs a fair amount of leveling and I use the LevelQuick all the time for leveling, but have never glued to it.

Be careful about using self leveler or skim coat under moisture membranes. There is only a few that are made for that, otherwise they go on top of the MPM. Better check on that. However I have been debating wether it is the same as just gluing over top of with a moisture cure urethane. Hard to get a straight answer from the techies. lol

Anything that is adhered to concrete needs a moisture test per the manufacturer, and pretty much all of them require it.

MPM= moisture protection membrane? I get that I'm going to need to do a moisture test for the slab but will the 2'x2' plastic sheet and ductape be enought? Thanks James for relieving me from the stress of the concrete prep. I'll just scrape, vacume and go... I know that ChemRex has some self leveler that I can get from my floor place I can pick up if I need to. Might just be the safest bet so the addhesive will stick to it properly.

Contrary to what you may here about the plastic mat test still being a viable moisture test, who ever said that is wrong. Very wrong.

Plastic mat test was used many moons ago...never conclusive. Then Phenal Thaeline was introduced, better, but still non-conclusive. W'eve come a long way since then.

From what I have read the moisture test is for testing the concrete for that perticular time of the install and does not reflect how much moisture could come through the cencrete later down the road. I feel that the platic Mat test will be good enought for now considering that we havent had any rain in months here I take it that it is not necessary to skim coat the floor before I apply the addhesive.


Thanks for everyones response!

Oh, and I forgot....do I need to prime the Concrete before I use the Self leveler?

Best test method out there is the Wagner Rapid Rh. Pretty easy to do and requires no math.

I've used the Mapei SLC, you can get it at Lowes and one good thing about that is that they also sell the primer in quarts instead of gallons like the flooring distrubitor, saves lots of money and the primer ( yes it is mandatory or it will not stick) goes really far.

No reaso to skim coat.

I really like the CX-1000. Used it a few times. One excellent thing about that is they it forms a water proof barrier. But.....your tests have to come in under the limit or it will nto set correctly if the slab it to wet. Wish someone here would start selling it again.

Read this thread. Scroll back up to the top where the Ardex technical writer starts talking.

http://www.wagnermeters.com/concretefor ... 689#pid689

thanks for all the responses so far! I was lucky enough to get some Chemrex primer and self leveler for free at my Floor Store and looks like ill be laying the wood next week. Its really good to know that the CX-1000 has some sort of water proof barrier when it goes on. one less thing to worry about. I will check out Lowes tomorrow and keep ya posted.

I'm very grateful for everyone's help here and the guidance that I have received! thanks again!

Better buy some straps before you start. They are a God send on gluedowns.