Three years ago I poured a 40-yard slab for a warehouse in Columbus and watched it turn into a nightmare because I skimped on the vapor barrier

Last week I finally wrapped up a lawsuit from that job after the floor delaminated due to moisture coming up through the slab, and now I won't even look at a bid without triple-checking the spec for vapor retarders, how do you guys handle owners who push back on adding that cost?

3 comments

3 Comments

simonb922mo ago

Owners always push back on vapor barriers because they don't see the point of spending money on plastic they can't see. Best way I've found is to pull up photos of delaminated floors right there in the meeting and ask them if they want to save fifteen cents a foot now or spend two hundred thousand on a lawsuit later. Lay it out as a math problem - show them the cost of the barrier versus the cost of ripping out and redoing a slab. Most of them cave when you put the numbers side by side and make it clear you won't warranty the work without it.

jordan_young2mo ago

Had a buddy who skipped the barrier and ended up paying for a whole new slab six months later.

evan_campbell1mo ago

Oh man, that is the exact kind of story I've heard way too many times. I had a job a couple years ago where the owner tried to argue they'd saved money for years without a barrier and nothing bad ever happened. I told them straight up that's just luck, not a system. Sure enough, we lay the slab, three months later they start seeing these little white salt blooms popping up everywhere. Six months later the floor was basically ruined, concrete was spalling and flaking off. They ended up paying twice as much to get it ripped out and redone with the proper barrier. I still get a little angry thinking about it because I warned them and they just ignored me.