09-13-2013, 11:37 AM
I don't really buy the concrete ruining joints argument FOR MYSELF because our house is small. Most of the steps I take are outside. Most of the time I spend in my home is sitting on my ass. I don't sit on the concrete, I have chairs for that.
As far as mold goes, I lived 15 years in the rainforest of SE Alaska and in that time I put in new flooring three times (all modern houses). All the wood floors had mold/mildew on them after we pulled up the carpet. Granted I've only owned one house in Hawaii but it is on slab and when I pulled the carpet up the slab was dry as a bone and there was no sign of moisture, mold, or mildew. Before we converted our carport into a stained/sealed lanai we would spill occasional water on the concrete and the water would quickly disappear into the slab and the surface was quickly dry. The wood floors in Alaska would not have dried until the following summer. Maybe not until the one after that if we didn't get a "real" summer.
As far as mold goes, I lived 15 years in the rainforest of SE Alaska and in that time I put in new flooring three times (all modern houses). All the wood floors had mold/mildew on them after we pulled up the carpet. Granted I've only owned one house in Hawaii but it is on slab and when I pulled the carpet up the slab was dry as a bone and there was no sign of moisture, mold, or mildew. Before we converted our carport into a stained/sealed lanai we would spill occasional water on the concrete and the water would quickly disappear into the slab and the surface was quickly dry. The wood floors in Alaska would not have dried until the following summer. Maybe not until the one after that if we didn't get a "real" summer.