Has anyone ever seen these? They were installed along the perimeter of the basement floor (parquetry). They are ± 1" in diameter and are spaced out approximately every 2 to 3 ft.
Seller unaware of their function. Doesn’t know if an
interior perimeter drain was installed.
Location: Montreal, Canada.
Whoever installed it might have tried or thought he had to vent the underside of the flooring, but not knowing how it was installed is another question.
Typically it could have been installed like this;
and venting would not have been required.
If the flooring doesn’t show any swelling, buckling, or warping, I would not worry too much about it. But any indication at all of the above, I would note it due to the possibility it was not installed properly. Hard to know at this point how it was installed other than the one who installed it. The vent would tell me that it was installed on furring and removing the vent to check for a vapor barrier is also possible.
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Thanks Marcel.
I should have been more specific. The title says
“hardwood floors” but they are more specifically parquet tiles.
Parquet tile floors that I am familiar with are installed using glue.
Appreciate the explanation and graphic though.
Yes, I did see it was parquet flooring. That is usually installed glued to a plywood substrate, but the plywood could be installed on furring those trying to vent under the plywood. Removing the vent might give more clues.
Like I said, if no indication of any problems, I would just note that it is vented and unable to verify the installation and if improperly protected with a vapor barrier could possibly damage the flooring in the future.
That is all you can do to protect yourself from future claims.
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Pop a vent up and take a look. Who knows what someone would do.
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Exactly. This applies to many things when inspecting a home. Whenever I see something that makes me think “WTF is that?” I slow down and gather as much information as possible. Unconventional or DIY type work should make us all pause.
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That’s what I said in my first post. The only way to get a clue to what they did
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Possibly for termite treatment.
Moisture from concrete basement floors is problematic for wood flooring, that’s why ceramic or vinyl is the most common flooring in my area. I suspect they put down some type of moisture barrier and tried to channel the moisture vapor out through these floor vents.
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