Vapor Barrier Paint

If you want to install hardwood flooring in your basement, you may have heard that it’s impossible to do so because of moisture problems found in basement floors. While this is partially true, with special care you can still use beautiful flooring in your basement. Vapor barrier paint is an excellent solution to the moisture problems encountered down in the deep.

Vapor barrier paint is just one weapon in a homeowner’s fight against water damage. Vapor barrier paint is made by many paint manufacturers in different grades. There may be reasons you can’t or won’t use traditional vapor barriers for your floors before installing wood or carpeted floors in your basement. This is one instance when vapor barrier paint is good alternative.

How Does Vapor Barrier Paint Work?

It is important to understand how water vapor acts in order to understand the uses of water vapor barrier paint. In a process called convection, warm air always moves toward colder air. Thus, during cold months, the warm air in your house is constantly seeking to escape outdoors. Warm air also expands, putting more space between its molecules compared to cold air.

Expansion allows warm air to hold more water vapor. When this warm air encounters the cooler surfaces of your home, such as exterior walls, it cools down and contracts, squeezing out water that collects on the cool surfaces. Underslab and in-wall water vapor barriers are designed to keep water out of your home. They defend against groundwater seepage, rainfall, and floods, but do not protect against damage from water building up inside your home.

Applications for vapor barrier paint:

• Water damage can render insulation useless and cause rot in structural members. Vapor barrier paint is often applied to drywall walls and ceilings in attics, where warm air tends to rise to protect against this damage.
• Older homes in need of water vapor barriers may use vapor barrier paint. It would be a bad idea to try to pull back the insulation in an old home’s ceiling and try to install plastic behind it, so using paint on the ceiling and walls would make much more sense.
• Water vapor barrier can be used directly on concrete floors. Products such as Aquapel, made by L & M Construction Chemicals of Omaha, Nebraska, penetrate porous concrete and chemically bond with it to seal out water vapor.

Types of Vapor Barrier Paint?

Water vapor barrier paint is often sold as a primer, to be applied under a final coat of a different paint. The primer is generally sold in white. The instructions will also state the maximum surface coverage of a gallon, and whether one coat or two are recommended.

In order to qualify as water vapor barrier paint, a product must attain a Perm rating less than 1.0 under the ASTM D1653 Test Method for Water Permeability of Organic Coating Films. A lower Perm number means greater the protection. When shopping for water vapor barrier paint, ask for it by name and check the Perm rating which should be on the can.

Should I Use Vapor Barrier Paint?

Water vapor barrier paint is not a substitute for other water vapor barriers when they can be installed. In some cases, such as cinder block construction, it is impossible to install conventional water vapor barrier sheeting behind exterior walls. In these cases, a high-grade (low Perm) water vapor barrier paint is essential.

If you want to install flooring in your basement, whether it’s carpet or even bamboo flooring, give serious consideration to using vapor barrier paint. After all, you want your investment to last as long as possible. Protecting is against moisture is a good step toward that end.

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