How Water Affects Magnesite Flooring

Magnesite Flooring is moisture-sensitive and will gradually break down if it remains wet for an extended period. Magnesite Flooring will swell up, bubble, and crack, and the filler can also rot and produce unpleasant odours. Once wet, it often resembles the texture of a cork from an old wine bottle!

Magnesite Flooring is extremely vulnerable to dampness. Once it becomes significantly moist, the chlorine in the magnesium oxychloride begins to seep out of the Magnesite Flooring and into the concrete slab below, causing corrosion to the reinforcement bars within the concrete. As a result, it will also attack all pipework within the slab, as gravity does its job and pulls the now-contaminated water through the concrete subfloor.

This means that the steel reinforcement of the concrete subfloor is at risk of corrosion and Concrete Cancer, which can cause tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars worth of damage to your building. This is why removing your Magnesite Flooring ASAP is as important as replacing it with a new Floor Levelling agent.

The relationship between Magnesite Flooring and concrete spalling/cancer is rather simple. Because Magnesite absorbs water and provokes the oxychloride to dissolve at the top, it leeches to the reinforcement steel bars on the floor and corrodes them, which can cause the concrete to expand up to 7 times the volume of the steel originally. 

What Happens When Magnesite Flooring Gets Wet?
– Corrodes Water Pipes
– Corrodes Gas Pipes
– Corrodes steel reinforcement bars
– Damages the concrete slab
– Unpleasant odours
– Bubbling/Cracking in the magnesite
– Delaminating from the concrete
– It’s impossible to install a new Flooring System, Floor Coating, or Floor Levelling product on

Since Magnesite is water-soluble, that means that it will always return to its previous state if it is exposed to enough water. So, what does this mean for homeowners?

The major issue with Magnesite Flooring is that it can cause Concrete Cancer if it is affected by water ingress. 

The corrosion causes two issues. First, the steel in the concrete will begin to expand, causing the concrete slab and Magnesite Flooring to crack, bubble, and deliminate and, in turn, the Magnesite Flooring to crack or pop out. Secondly, the concrete slab will lose its structural integrity over time which could lead to the collapse of the slab.

1) Weather over the last 35 – 100 years will also be a massive factor that will have increased the rate of Concrete Cancer in your unit.

2) Being closer to the ocean will also rapidly increase how fast your Magnesite Flooring has caused Concrete Cancer throughout your unit.

3) ALL Properties will have minor water damage, and some may even have major water damage. Those areas are likely to have Concrete Cancer already. Areas near bathrooms, kitchens, windows, and balconies will also commonly be increasingly affected due to potential water leaks over the last 35 – 100 years.

4) It’s not uncommon for previous unit owners to have had accidental water spills or water leaks in their property, and If the previous owners have failed to always keep their doors or windows shut, as just a minor rain storm with a window leak or window not shut in time, will result in water reaching your Magnesite Flooring, through your carpet or other flooring system, attacking the concrete and causing Concrete Cancer.