I finally saw how bad moisture can mess up a carpet job in Seattle

I went to a job site in Seattle last week, a basement in an old house near Green Lake. The homeowner said they had carpet put in 8 months ago and it already smelled musty and was pulling away from the tack strips. I pulled up a corner and the padding was damp and kind of crunchy. The installer never checked the concrete slab for moisture, just threw down some cheap pad and carpet. There was no vapor barrier or anything. I tested the slab with a meter and it was reading like 15 percent. That's way too high for carpet. I talked to the homeowner about ripping it all out and doing a proper moisture mitigation system first. Has anyone else dealt with a floor like that where the prep was totally skipped?

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henrybaker4mo ago

15 percent on a slab? That's insane.

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karenf404mo ago

... it just reminds me of the time my cousin paid like 20 percent on a tiny driveway job and then the guy disappeared for two weeks. Showed up with half the bags cracked and then tried to charge extra for the color... I mean I get that prices have gone up but 15 percent on a slab feels like they're just adding numbers now. Some people don't know what things actually cost and then you end up with stories like that.

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