Posted: 8/22/2025 6:06:37 PM EDT
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I converted a spare bedroom into a gym in my house in Florida. I pulled up my interlocking gym mats and discovered that moisture had condensed between the carpet and mats. The bottom of the mats were damp, and the carpet was damp. How do I keep this from happening? The house is wood construction on concrete slab. The carpet is cheap low-pile "flipper grey." |
"You see? It's like I've always said; You can get more with a kind word and a two-by-four than you can with just a kind word." - Marcus Cole
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Not an engineer, but did sleep at... Ok, did at least watch semi-related YouTube videos. I don't trust Ratsinger videos - but he did an interesting one on building on the Texas coast. Carpet breaths well. But put an air barrier that is cooled on one side with your houses AC (in this case he was referring to LVP flooring - but I bet a gym mat would do the same thing), you can get condensation on the other side. Houses in Rockport were on stilts (so plenty of warm moist air under the house). Builder said he saw subfloors rot out in less than 1 year. If your slab did not have a vapor barrier under it (which at least is completely standard now where I live), the slab will let humidity through. Not a problem with carpet (which will pass that water vapor into the house), maybe a problem with a cold vapor barrier on the other side of the carpet. |
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If you don't have a vapor barrier under the slab then you'll never stop it. I would definitely pull the carpet up though, and then condition the space. I have to run a dehumidifier in my basement about 8 months out of the year. Moisture coming through isn't a huge issue, but trapping it and not mitigating it can turn things into a big mess fast. |
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