Regardless of the location or build season, today’s interior built environments have a common design goal to create microenvironments that are humidity and temperature controlled. Generally speaking, Americans have come to expect a standard of residential interiors that remain between 68-75 degrees, on average, across all U.S. climate zones. In response, all building assemblies adjust and adapt to find better balance with the surrounding natural environment. But when the outdoor environment is radically different than the indoors, such as that in the high humidity, high heat climate of the American South, it creates a constant assault on the building envelope. As nature attempts to balance the pressure, moisture and temperature, it can specifically affect flooring systems built over unconditioned crawl spaces as the warm, moist air drives through toward the conditioned interior of the home. We call this phenomenon vapor drive.
Excess moisture in a crawl space or basement is never ideal, but it becomes a problem when the moisture isn’t controlled. At Huber Engineered Woods, the Technical Hotline Support Team is seeing an increased number of questions from customers inquiring about best building practices for subfloors with luxury vinyl flooring finishes. Luxury vinyl flooring (LVF) has many positive attributes: it’s affordable, durable and an impressive alternative to more expensive finishing options.