LESLIE: Boris in Texas has an unwanted problem – sweating floors. Tell us about it. What type of floors do you have?
BORIS: I have a home that has a concrete slab and I have inlaid linoleum inside – in a closet. And the closet area is the only area that I’m getting the sweating floors.
TOM: Well, it sounds like condensation, Boris, and that’s actually …
LESLIE: Yeah, is there an air conditioning vent in that room?
BORIS: Yes.
LESLIE: In that closet?
BORIS: Well, now when the closet doors are closed it’s not air conditioned, but the room does – the whole house is air conditioned.
TOM: What happens is you get a lot of humidity inside the closet space and the walls or the door gets very cold. And the moisture condenses and that’s where it comes from. The solution here is to vent the closet. What you might want to do is if it doesn’t have a louvered door on it, you could use, for example, a regular heating register. And you could cut a hole in the outside wall of the closets and make it look as if there was a duct there but, really, all it is, is just a register opening up an airflow into that closet. If you ventilate the closet space, you won’t get the condensation. Fairly common problem and if it gets particularly bad, we’ve had situations where stachybotrys has grown, toxic mold has grown; not only on the walls but even on the clothes and boxes and things that are stored there. So important to make sure the closet’s well ventilated if you’re getting moisture there because it’s only going to get worse. OK, Boris?
BORIS: OK. Well, thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Boris. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
My cement slab floor has moisture damp spots throughout the house. The house is still under construction. Some areas are dry while other areas are damp? I’m ready to install Sheetrock now. What is causing the damp areas?