Audience: Johnson County homeowners with a concrete slab
Boutique Flooring serves the Kansas City metro: Johnson County, KS; Wyandotte County, KS; Leavenworth County, KS; Jackson County, MO; Cass County, MO; and Platte County, MO, with particular emphasis on South Johnson County — Overland Park, Leawood, Prairie Village, Olathe, Lenexa, and Shawnee.
If your Johnson County home has a concrete slab, or you think it might, this guide is written for you. It is a homeowner's decision guide, not a technical manual, and it does not assume anything about your particular house. You can read more about where we work at /service-area.
Why this guide focuses on slab-specific questions
This guide is about the questions worth asking when you are considering flooring for a concrete slab. It deliberately does not pick a material for you, and it is not a compatibility chart you can scan to find a winner.
A useful habit is this: before you settle on anything, ask what the installation instructions require for the exact product and system you are considering — the specific product, and the specific way it would be installed. That is advice about how to shop, not a technical verdict about your floor.
Later on this page you will find one manufacturer document quoted as an example. Treat it as exactly that: one example, quoted so you can see the kind of requirement an installation document can contain. For broader background on flooring decisions, see /flooring-guide.
One manufacturer/system example: Mohawk glue-down resilient tile
Here is what a real installation document can say. According to Mohawk's "Mohawk Group Glue Down Resilient Tile Installation": Every concrete substrate on or below-grade must have an effective vapor retarder directly under the slab.
The scope of that sentence matters as much as the sentence itself. Mohawk glue-down luxury vinyl / resilient tile instructions are one manufacturer/system example. They are not a rule for all LVP, all resilient flooring, engineered hardwood, carpet, all adhesives, or all slab installations.
We include it so you can see what a requirement in an installation document actually reads like, and so you know to ask for the document that covers the product and installation method you are actually considering. You can see what we do at /services.
What the selected installation document says about moisture testing
The same document also addresses testing. According to Mohawk's "Mohawk Group Glue Down Resilient Tile Installation": Tests must be performed per the latest edition of ASTM F 2170 - IRH (In-situ Relative Humidity Test).
ASTM F2170 is referenced as a test method in the selected manufacturer instructions. It is not an ASTM-defined acceptance limit, and 75% RH is not a permitted claim. What is quoted here is a method a document points to, not a number you can shop by.
And again, the scope is narrow.
This evidence does not support a universal threshold
It is worth being plain about the limits of what is on this page. The evidence assembled for this guide does not support presenting a universal relative-humidity threshold that applies to every floor over every slab.
So we are not going to hand you one number to carry into a showroom. What this page can offer is one manufacturer document, quoted in its own scope, and the kind of question that document should prompt you to ask about whatever product you are considering.
Questions to ask before choosing flooring over a slab
A short list to bring to any flooring conversation: What are the installation instructions for this exact product? What installation method are we talking about, and do those instructions cover that method? What do those instructions say about the subfloor and about testing? Who will read that document before the work is scheduled, and can I see it?
None of those questions require you to know anything technical in advance. They simply keep the conversation anchored to the product and installation you are actually considering rather than to a general impression.
If you work with us, that conversation has a shape. Our consultation process is: 1. Start at home; 2. Narrow the right direction; 3. Explore more options, if needed; 4. Finalize your selection; 5. Personalized quote; 6. Installation & enjoy. You can read through it at /process.
How Boutique can help
If you want to work through these questions with someone, start with a conversation rather than a shopping list. In-home consultations and quotes are free and no-obligation.
Katie Orscheln is Owner & Flooring Designer and your single point of contact from the first conversation through installation, so the questions you ask early stay with the same person later. You can reach us at /contact.