I just opened 2 huge bags of MGPS last night,and yes the same thing happened to me!!!! I already threw some soil under my trees, bushes and knockout roses., before I noticed that Horrible odor emerging from the bag! Like......if something died in the bag! I hope I did not do damaged to my garden! It will be pretty hard to remove that smelly soil! I can’t believe this is Miracle Gro Soil! Im not sure if I should use this soil to plant my Cannas. I spent a lot of money on the plants and don’t want to see my Flower plants go to waste! I’m thinking maybe moisture seep into the bag and perhaps ithe soil needs to dry out For a few days before using the soil! does anyone have any idea what to do? Miracle Gro Soil is losing their credibility with me that’s for sure. I will be contacting the company.

I thought EVA is an alternative to PVC and that the only hazards of polyethylene are in the leachate, presumably when the structure is demolished and the debris consigned to a landfill. In any case, it's unlikely that your project requires any vapour barrier other than latex paint on the finished drywall. Certainly, that's the case if you are in NYC.

Atelier is right on the money as far as moisture testing is concerned and it is best to slab test on or right after high humidity and rainy days to get the worst-case-scenario test returns. The flooring system integrity will only be as good as it is in its worst day in the enviroment its installed in. After you get test results and compare them to the manufacturers product tolerances, then you can decide on the right product for that application or other remedies to bring it to withing manufacturer tolerances. The key here is prevention. Guessing isnt knowing, and any preventative measures used by guessing might be overkill OR might not be enough for the product. You just dont know without testing and in some cases an area will never be good enough for some products without rectifying the underlying construction causing the problem. Yes, some adhesives and substrate treatments will add a water vapor barrier and stop or stem hydrostatic pressure in the substrate but they all have cap limits. Owens Wood Flooring has a comptehensive information section of their site on Owens Plankfloor Gluedown Installation Owens states the following: "MAKE CERTAIN BUILDING INTERIOR AND SUBFLOOR ARE DRY Interior walls should be dry enough to be painted and a room temperature as required by adhesive manufacturer with a relative humidity of 30-50% should be provided before any installation begins. To determine if a concrete slab is suitable for hardwood flooring, please follow the NWFA guidelines to perform a Calcium Chloride test. If excessive moisture is present, do not lay flooring. Check floor in several locations. Concrete sub floors must be clean, flat and sound and of sufficient compression strength (3000lbs PSI) being sure that the surface is not slick. Sections not flat such as waviness, trowel marks, etc. are to be eliminated by grinding or the use of an acceptable leveling compound. Especially along the walls, the sub floor flatness must be checked and, if necessary, improved. Flat to 1/8" in an 8 radius. In addition to concrete sub floors, these products can be installed over dry, flat wood sub floors, such as plywood. If plywood is used as an overlay over an existing sub floor, the thickness of the overlay material much be such as to yield a total ¾" sub floor thickness. New wood type sub floors should also be checked for moisture using a moisture meter. In general, wood or plywood sub floors should not exceed 12% moisture content or 4% moisture content difference between wood flooring and sub floor." The NWFA is a resource you can only get information from if you are a paying member, so you might want to search around for the same information on calcium chloride tests from a independent source if you or your installer isnt a member. It should be noted that there are different types of moisture testing. 1. Relative Humidity of the Installation Area. 2. Moisture in the substrate itself hydrostatic Pressure. 3. Moisture testing the wood looring itself before the install to ensure its equalized to the within-tolerance installation area humidity. Here is some more information you may find useful: moisture testing hardwood flooring moisture testing for relative humidity in a room hydrostatic pressure in concrete ASTM F2170 ASTM F1869 your installer should be well educated in all of the above. ask them plenty of questions and get a good comfort level in their abilities. ask for and check out their references too.

Thanks for the feedback. As for covering terrazzo...I am not a fan, and vastly prefer hardwood. However, please don't weep, as my husband and I have commented the floors are just covered up. Someday no doubt a future owner will be exclaiming as they rip out my flooring 'Can you believe someone covered up these amazing floors?'. Just as today the same comment is heard while the carpeting is peeled off old wood floors :).