I'm curious about the perm rating of marmoleum: to what extent is marmoleum vapor permeable? In the passive house construction world, it's important for every material in the wall/floor/ceiling assemblies to be air and water tight, but to be vapor permeable.Since marmoleum sheets are adhered to the floor with a continuous layer of glue/mastic, or in the case of the click tile product the marmoleum is glued to HDF which is in turn glued to cork, I also wonder if, even though marmoleum on it's own may have an excellent perm rating, the glues render that null? It seems like glues would perform, from a vapor standpoint, like a sheet of plastic... I'd love insight on this! SAMPLE - Forbo Marmoleum Click Cinch Loc Seal, Cork Tree Waterproof Click - Floating

Question

I'm curious about the perm rating of marmoleum: to what extent is marmoleum vapor permeable? In the passive house construction world, it's important for every material in the wall/floor/ceiling assemblies to be air and water tight, but to be vapor permeable.Since marmoleum sheets are adhered to the floor with a continuous layer of glue/mastic, or in the case of the click tile product the marmoleum is glued to HDF which is in turn glued to cork, I also wonder if, even though marmoleum on it's own may have an excellent perm rating, the glues render that null? It seems like glues would perform, from a vapor standpoint, like a sheet of plastic... I'd love insight on this! SAMPLE - Forbo Marmoleum Click Cinch Loc Seal, Cork Tree Waterproof Click - Floating

Status: Open Feb 03, 2021 - 04:43 AM

1answer

Staff Answer

Feb 07, 2021 - 03:04 AM

Interesting question but as far as I know, there have been no studies on perm rating for Marmoleum. It is our belief that this product is vapor permeable. We just don't know to what degree. With few exceptions, most adhesives are vapor permeable. Our reasoning is that If the adhesive used between the layers blocked vapor 100% Forbo would not require a vapor barrier underneath them. For more information, please contact Forbo technical dept. shannon.wolski@forbo.com. Good luck.