New Construction,Parquet, Vapor Barrier?

lacyj

Hi,
We're building, ourselves. Picked up Parquet flooring. The subfloor is T&G, w/primer paint. Foundation is 3' off dirt. There is no vapor barrier, yet. Where should it go? On the bare earth or between subfloor and parquet? What is best to use? This is in a bedroom that has entry to bathroom. Bathroom will have tile floor. Is the barrier necessary, if the crawl space is vented? We have dry summers and average rain,winters with some frost, but no snow.
We're on a really tight budget for this whole project. Any advise is greatly appreciated.
Lacyj

hatchet

If you were to put in a vapor barrier it should go on the dirt. Crawlspace vapor barrier is one of those contested areas. Personally I would put it in - it's cheap insurance. Others will disagree. You could wait to put it in also.

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Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Teetorbilt

Definitely go with a barrier between the subfloor and the parquet. T&g will seperate over time and you will have gaps, any moisture getting to a parquet floor will be disasterous.
In my opinion there are a couple of ways to go about this.
My favorite would be a heavy coat of West System epoxy. This would bond all of the boards together and ensure a vapor barrier. It's material expensive but labor cheap. You'll have to scuff the floor before bonding but it should last forever.
Flor?

hatchet

To each his own - but here's why I would rather put it on the dirt. You put it on the subfloor and then nail through it. Now the ends of all the nails are warm on one end and cold on the other with moisture under the floor - perfect for condensation. Why not stop the moisture before it gets to the wood and nails at all?
Ok - so you're putting in a floating floor. I'd still put it on the dirt in case later on I change flooring materials.

__________________
Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Floorwizard

It would have to be a floating parquet for the moisture barrier to be put under the wood, but I agree with hatchet, on the dirt.....is there anything wrong with both?

sounds like cheap insurance to me.

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