Hi,

In early May, 2004 I began construction of a new home.  The main living area is 2600 sq. ft. with an attached 3 bay garage of 850 sq. ft. for a total of 3450 sq. ft.

This house is a slab on grade heated by hot water radiation via an electric furnace with no basement or crawl space.

The following construction outlines the foundation, slab and sub-floor.  Footings were poured and weeping tile and crushed stone covering same were put in place.  Next a 4 ft. foundation wall was poured and foundation coating was spread on same on the outside.  The inside of the 4 ft. wall was covered with sheets of 2 inch styrofoam and the main floor and garage area was then filled in with approximately 3 ft. of good granular/drainage material.  On top of this material there was 8 inches of sand spread into which all plumbing/water lines were placed.  The sand as well as the granular/draining material were compacted.  On top of the sand the main floor and garage area were covered with sheets of 2 inch styrofoam.  Then a vapor barrier was plaed on top of the styrofoam, on top of the vapor barrier grid sheets of wire mesh were laid to reinforce the concrete slab.  The heating pipes(IPEX) were then tied to the wire mesh for the heating system and the floor was poured in 2 sections, i.e. main floor first then the garage.

Upper house construction:  This is a single story home.  The walls were put up, trusses put in place with plywood covering and shingled with asphalt shingles.  The outside of the home was essentially completed before any inside work took place.  I should add there was very little rain during this time frame.  The main floor was strapped out using 2 x 3 dressed lumberatached to concrete by nails.  On top of this was placed 5/8 inches plywood as a subfloor. 3/8 inch plywood was added in the kitchen/foyer/utility/master ensuite/master bathroom/sunroom to bring the floor up level to the hardwood in the remainder o the hous.  Ceramic tile was laid in the above noted areas with hardwood in the rest of the house.  The hardwood was in the house for over 2 weeks(for climitization purposes) before being laid and no underlay was put under the hardwood.  The house is heated via an electric furnace with hot water in-floor throughout.  The house also has an air exchange with heat recovery system, with outlets in every room except the garage.  The house also has Kohler casemet windows with argon gas, Low   The heating system was up and running in early Sept. 2004 prior to ceramic/hardwood being laid.  Prior to September the house was ventilated at all times when the weather was good.  We now have a serious moisture problem.  The hardwood flooring is ruined as a result of cupping/peaking.  The grout in the ceramic tile has discoloured in places.  I have removed some ceramic tile in the kitchen area and the plywood subfloor is wet.

I have had an independent heating company check the heating system for leaks and there appear to be none.  There also doesn’t appear to be any leaks  in the plumbing/water system.  Moisture/mildew smell is noted under the kitchen/island sinks and in both bathroom vanities.

Could you please advise if you can shed some light on where the moisture is coming from, why and any solutions you could offer would be grealy appreciated.

Thank you,

Jim