Indoor air problems caused by floor coverings have not been completely eliminated, although special attention has been paid to moisture management in construction in recent years. Practice has shown that incorrect product selections and inappropriate product combinations may cause different materials to chemically react with each other in such a way that they form compounds that are harmful to health.
In plastic covered floors, despite the moisture control measures, floor coverings, adhesives and screeds have disintegrated due to the alkaline moisture of the concrete. As a result, quality defects have arisen, the repair costs of which are usually considerable, because the surface materials, and partly also the substructures, have had to be changed and the users of the facilities have had to be placed in sheltered areas.
The construction industry has started a research project since the beginning of 2017, the aim of which is to increase information on the moisture technical (such as water vapor resistance) and chemical properties of materials and to prevent this type of error from occurring. In the project, the factors and damage processes affecting the damage of plastic-covered floors are investigated, and material combinations that work with each other are determined.
The Laboratory of Construction Engineering of Tampere University of Technology (TTY) is responsible for the research. Laboratory research on mechanical and physicochemical analyzes of damage is carried out by the Materials Science laboratory at TUT.
The financiers of the project are the Talonrakennusteollisuus ry, the Betoniteollisuus ry, the Lattian- ja seinenpövningliitto ry and several material suppliers and manufacturing companies as well as contracting companies. The project will last about a year.
More information
- Jani Kemppainen
- agent
- jani.kemppainen(@)rt.fi
- tel. 040 541 8090, 09 129 9284