Comments on: Floating Subfloor

By: Basement Floor Guy

Basement Floor Guy — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 21:03:00 +0000

Hey GalgaryRENO:
Hope that your flooring project goes well. But I’m not so sure about what the person from Lowe’s is talking about here. Dricore is made to let the concrete “breathe” already with a moisture barrier that raises the subfloor. Therefore, there is already space underneath for the moisture to dissipate. I really don’t see a need for it unless you are using it to access something under the flooring like a drain or such in the future. Other than that, not really sure what that Lowe’s person was talking about. Here’s a little excerpt taken from the Dricore site:

DRIcore Subfloor is a simple do-it-yourself solution to help you create a warm, dry, comfortable basement. DRIcore subfloor panels are manufactured with a high density polyethylene moisture barrier that raises the 5/8″ core a 1/4” away from damp, cold concrete floors. Since the panels are raised off the surface, the concrete floor is allowed to breathe.

Now that’s not to say that you can’t because you certainly can if there is a need. But Dricore is designed to keep your floor away from a cold and damp concrete floor allowing the surface underneath to breathe. The choice is yours and wish you luck in the project. Feel free to stop back by and do a little show and tell with us on how it all turned out.

By: CalgaryRENO

CalgaryRENO — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:39:35 +0000

We consulted with Lowes’ about the Dricore system for our basement, they suggest installing fake Heat Vents into the floor to allow for air circulation so that moisture would dissipate. Has anyone tried this?

By: SkiBumMSP

SkiBumMSP — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 21:59:09 +0000

After these really heavy rains (from TS Lee – was pretty much raining all week here since Monday and only today (Fri 9/9/11) it finally stopped. There is some water that got into my basement. It was not an outright flood, but it was enough to get the carpeting soaked and get things on the floor wet. The parts that are not carpeted (only tiled) has pretty much dried out already. This seems to happen only when we get some extremely heavy multi-day rains. When Hurricane Irene came through here (and even Isabelle back in 2003), I did not get any water what-so-ever in my basement.

I was looking for something that would allow me to “raise” the flooring above the concrete, so when something like this happens, the water remain (and dries out) underneath the floor without effecting anything above. This DRICore thing seems to be exactly what I need. The Home Depot just down the road even has it in stock! I’ll have to go over there and take a look at this material in person.

This has only happened occasionally (i.e., after really heavy multi-day rain events). May be time to reseal the concrete as well while I will have everything torn up. This house was built in the mid 80′s, so it may be time. I did check and made sure the gutters were not clogged and went through all the usual trouble-shooting to check for leakage. Now having to cleanup the soaked carpet down there (ugh).

By: Basement Floor Guy

Basement Floor Guy — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:21:05 +0000

I agree with you Benny, if you’ve got a water problem you need to get it fixed. OSB will likely swell up when it gets wet. But the Dricore has the waterproof bottom which will raise it off the concrete slab so any water permeating through the concrete will not get the OSB wet. However, if you flood or get multiple inches of water down there, it will likely have a problem. But for everyday issues, not that much of a problem.

By: benny schepis

benny schepis — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 18:24:26 +0000

If water is an issue why make the wood out of partical board which EXPLODES when wet . Put a floor like this down when it got wet it was destroyed