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Question: Can I use any construction grade 6 mil plastic sheeting as moisture barrier for wood flooring?

Plastic sheeting plays a large role in hospitals. Some people refer to it as "Hospital Rated Visqueen".  What they are referring to are the large number of uses for the types of products supplied by Global Plastic Sheeting.  Some of the products and applications include:

-Fire Retardant Plastic Sheeting: The most popular of our fire retardant sheeting for hospital applications is ASFR-6.  This 6 mil Anti-Static Fire Retardant Plastic will not give off a static electricity discharge like normal plastics, so is safe around sensitive instruments.  Also does not attract dust, and hospitals love that feature.  We also stock everything from Construction Grade FR Poly, to Reinforced FR Polyethylene.

-Tacky Door Mats (anti-microbial) for the entrances to operating rooms, and for helping contain contaminants in construction/maintenance operations

-Heat Shrink Wrap: This 9 and 12 mil Fire Retardant product is used to wrap and contain any areas needing to be sealed off for any reason

-ZipWall poles: used to create a containment, these pole and jack systems are easily set up to create a containment of any size

DeckProtek is popular in Health Care applications- 10, 14, and 30 mil versions provide a high level of Fire Retardant floor or wall protection.  While most of this is used during periods of construction or renovations, we have also provided it to cover the floors in emergency rooms, rooms where patients have radioactive treatments, where all surfaces must be covered, and many other applications

-Carpet Plastic FR: Self-Adhesive Fire Retardant covering for protecting carpeting, quickly, easily, and cost effectively

-Fire Retardant Tapes: 225FR Duct type sealing and seaming tape, 268 Black FR tape, and others to meet the FR needs of the health care industry

-Poly Srcim, various thicknesses and colors have been popular in health care.  They all meet stringent FR standards, and are available in a variety of colors, which is sometimes requested.

-Fluted Plastic Sheets: These 4’ x 8’ FR sheets are used to erect many containments in hospitals, make temporary hallways, temporary walls, tough floor protection, cover walls to protect from workmen damage, make devices for entry into the ceiling tiles for pulling cables, etc.

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 Have you ever had a surface that you want to protect, but you don't want to stick anything to that surface, and you don't want anything like visqueen that will slip around?  Have you ever wanted  something to protect a delicate product or surface, without sticking anything to that product, while holding in place without using tape!  Behold, there is a solution. The solution is a  cohesive wrap- a product that only sticks to itself! Cohesive adhesive system sticks "face to face" around any object, only sticks to itself, and won't leave behind any residue.You just wrap this padded plastic warp around your item and stick it to itself.

What are some of the uses for this cohesive wrap we call "EZ Wrap"?  The marine industry uses it to wrap and protect poles, hand rails, pipes or odd shaped surfaces during refit. Homebuilders use it to wrap surfaces prone to scratching.  It's the easiest way  to keep them looking like brand new, regardless of the environment. 

The outer covering is HDPE- a highly chemically resistant, solvent resistant, and salt water resistant.  It has an inner foam layer to provide strong padding. It's the cohesive foam layer that is coated with the cohesive, so ti will onlyl stick to itself and leaves nothing behing.  Best of all it is lightweight and easy to use!

Question: What building materials contain Asbestos?

Answer: The widest use of asbestos was used from 1940-1975. Here is a partial list of building materials found to contain asbestos: * acoustical Texture, and ceiling tiles * blackboards * duct insulation * fire-proofing * plaster * duct tape * spackle * attic and wall insulation * recessed lighting fixtures * exhaust pipe * exhaust hoods * building panels, siding * roofing felt, tar, and shingles * swimming pool plaster * stucco, mortar, concrete * asbestos cement pipe, shingles, panels * resilient flooring

Question.: There are so many different vapor barriers (vapor retarders) to chose from. How do I know which one to buy and use? What's the best material for a crawlspace?

Answer.: TRUTH 1: No two water vapor retarders are created equal. The vapor retarder you select should be manufactured from high-grade raw materials that are consistent in quality, unlike common construction grades of 4, 6 or 10 mil polyethylene. Construction grade films (known as C&A or visqueen) are typically produced with very low grades of polyethylene resin and a very high percentage of "post consumer" recycled materials. The numerous heat cycles that occur in reprocessing of recycled materials, combined with the varied types of resin used, cause inconsistencies in physical strength and permeability. While this commodity film serves a purpose in temporary construction and agricultural applications, it is not designed to provide ongoing protection against unwanted moisture. Film characteristics such as low strength and poor resistance to decay should be of major concern.

TRUTH 2: A long-term vapor retarder must maintain life long integrity by resisting decay, attack by moisture, organisms in the soil and chemicals. As mentioned above, beware of vapor retarders manufactured with "post consumer" recycled resins (C&A Poly or Visqueen) which can degrade from chemicals in the soil. Paper laminates can degrade from moisture attack.

TRUTH 3: Moisture problems associated with a vapor retarder installed under the concrete slab-on-grade are often traced to punctured or torn water vapor retarders. Damage due to construction traffic during installation, can be detrimental to the performance of the vapor retarder. Physical characteristics such as high puncture resistance and tensile strength, along with low-moisture vapor permeability, are vital attributes of a vapor retarder. These physical characteristics are well quantified in ASTM E-1745 and are outlined in this guide.

TRUTH 4: When specifying a water vapor retarder, designed for use in under concrete slab applications, insist the supplier meets the newest and most stringent ASTM standard, ASTM E-1745 for "Water Vapor Retarders Used in Contact with Soil or Granular Fill Under Concrete Slabs". It assures minimum values are met regarding tensile strength and puncture resistance, along with the maximum allowable water vapor permeance. ASTM E-1745 separates these properties into three performance classes: Class A, B & C.

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Is LLDPE the most flexible of the plastic sheeting films?

Answer: Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) is the most flexible of the plastic sheeting films. LLDPE is blended form of LDPE where the film has much more flexibility, tensile strength, and more conformability. It is more pliable and softer. LLDPE is used for pond liners or blended into other films to give them more flexibility and extra strength. LLDPE is used for films that need a tremendous amount of strength to absorb impacts while not tearing or puncturing. An example of this is a carpet plastic film that adheres to the carpet. It is strong enough to withstand foot traffic, even from stiletto high heels! The molecules all line up and strongly hold together as the film is stretched. The most common thickness range is from 0.5 mil to 40 mil in flexible plastic sheeting.

QUESTION: We are looking for a product that can be laid on a concrete slab to act as a vapor barrier between the concrete and the carpet we plan to put in our basement.

Do you have a product that might work for this? 

Do you know if there are any contra-indications to putting the vapor barrier on TOP of the concrete to separate it from the carpet pad. It seems your products are used mostly between the ground and the concrete slab.

ANSWER: Any of our Vapor Barrier types of products can be used in this application over the concrete slab. I would recommend Raven Industries VaporBlock 20 Plus or the VaporBlock Plus 6 as two of the better ones, since they also block out radon, methane, and VOC's. Ideally, the liner should be sealed to the concrete floor using tape, or non-hardening polyurethane caulking, as close to the outside walls as possible. The idea is to help direct any moisture that flows along the plane under the concrete to the outside walls, so it can dissipate to the outdoors if possible. If this is not possible, and any moisture will be going into interior walls, they may want to stop a couple of inches short of the walls to keep from directing moisture up into the interiors of walls. I give the VaporBlock 20 Plus my highest recommendation, even though it is more costly. I believe it is such a superior product over all the others, that it is worth the difference. For this application, I would probably make the VaporBlock 6 Plus my next highest, even though it is pretty thin. It still has the very tight cell structure, and could be doubled it if you wish. Crawlspace 1800 is also a good choice.

Question: My house is built on a crawl space, like most of the houses in my area. Only part of the dirt floor of the space is covered with plastic. Do I need this plastic cover and if so, what thickness do you recommend?

Answer: Ideally you should cover the entire floor and the walls with a high performance vapor retarder. This is called encapsulating the crawlspace and offers a good number of benefits. The #1 reason so many people are doing this is to reduce - moisture transmission, mold, and mildew. Radon is also a huge problem in many parts of our country, and installing an encapsulation significantly reduces the amount of the odorless, colorless gas that is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the USA today. Our company highly recommends engineered vapor retarders for this application, rather than using low grade construction plastic like is normally sold in home centers. The performance differences are quite substantial. For one thing our liners made for use as crawlspace liners will not degrade when in contact with soil. Construction/Agricultural Grade Poly will often degrade within 2-3 years. Our products will last indefinitely under the same conditions where the lower grade products will degrade. Above, I mentioned that the walls should also be covered. One should try to go far enough up the wall that the liner is above ground level, where it should be securely sealed to the foundation wall. This gives the gases and moisture a much easier path to the outdoors, through the block or concrete. One should stop short of attaching the plastic sheeting to the wooden joists under the home. This is necessary for bug inspections, plus keeps the moisture from being transferred into the wood.