A new standard guide, created after more than six years of work by ASTM Committee F06 on Resilient Floor Coverings, has been published. Dean Craft, a principal with ISE Logik and member of ASTM Committee F06, helped gain passage of the guide which evaluates the potential impact of soluble alkali salts in the near surface region of a concrete slab.
According to ASTM F3441-23 Standard Guide for Measurement of pH Below Resilient Flooring Installations, “there is typically a higher concentration of soluble alkali salts in the surface region of a concrete slab due to the initial bleeding process of a freshly placed concrete slab. If after a resilient floor covering material is installed there is sufficient moisture to place these salts into solution, a potentially damaging, high pH situation can develop beneath the installed material.”
When the approval of the guide was announced last November, Craft noted, “Because of high foot traffic and rolling loads in commercial installations, so much of resilient is glued down to concrete subfloors. We saw it as imperative, given the preference for resilient and the demands in these environments (combined with the removal of pH testing guidelines from F710) to provide a document focused on the evaluation of pH that manufacturers and project teams can utilize.”
For more information, visit https://www.astm.org/catalogsearch/result/?q=F3441.
