For questions generally relating to the structure and construction of floors in buildings, including designs, materials, support mechanisms, load-bearing calculations, etc. For questions specifically about the top-layer covering of a floor (tile, carpet, hardwood) see the "flooring" tag.
4
votes
1answer
2k views
How can I insulate a shed floor?
I am currently planning on insulating my shed this summer to allow year round usage.
My first step is to insulate the whole shed.
- The walls and Ceiling are straight forward, I will be ...
4
votes
3answers
3k views
How can I locate floor joists?
I want to use some stop squeak screws that pull the subfloor tight to the joists, then break off beneath the surface of the floor. I am having a difficult time locating the joists: my stud finder ...
4
votes
1answer
167 views
What type of underlayment should be used when installing engineered floors?
I'm going to install floating engineered wood floor in a 3rd floor condo. It has plywood subfloor. My biggest concern is the noise of walking on the floor that people below me will suffer.
My ...
6
votes
2answers
451 views
What should go between a wood plank sub floor and a hardwood strip floor
I am about to install a hardwood floor into a room in my 1905 farmhouse. The subfloor is 8-12" wide 1" thick planks. The floor I am installing is 2-1/4" prefinished solid hickory tongue and groove.
...
7
votes
1answer
1k views
What kind of wood should be used to replace a sub floor?
I live in a British late 1900s semi detached house that I assume would have had floorboards originally. However it seems that these have been replaced by Chipboard. This doesnt seem very sturdy and I ...
5
votes
1answer
345 views
Can I install carpet in the attic?
I'm planning on adding a plywood floor to part of my attic. I have some old carpet that I'm thinking about laying on top of the plywood. Is this a bad idea?
6
votes
2answers
147 views
How do I add in-floor heating to a small area?
I get extremely cold feet, and have radiant heating in some rooms of my house, and I love it.
I spend a few hours a day in a room without radiant heat. Is there a way to heat about two square feet ...
5
votes
2answers
734 views
Soundproofing a floor: How about cement backer board w/ Green Glue and mass-loaded vinyl?
I've been researching soundproof underlayments for floors, but the selection seems to be very paltry. It appears that you're pretty much stuck with mass-loaded vinyl (MLV), QuietWood, and a few other ...
1
vote
1answer
471 views
How should I add flooring in my “crawl” space?
Our house has a basement where part of it is finished but one section is closed off by a door and just has a dirt floor. The space is about 25'x25' and about 12' tall (not really a "crawl" space) ...
6
votes
1answer
283 views
Our vinyl floor install will need to be redone — will new vinyl need to be used, or can the existing vinyl be reused?
I had a company (whose name will not be mentioned unless they refuse to fix the job) install a new vinyl floor. I'll spare all the ugly details except the one that's relevant to this question which is ...
4
votes
1answer
372 views
How do I cut grooves in self-leveling concrete to incorporate an existing drain?
This is a follow up question to my previous question about leveling a basement floor without losing the drainage. After the feedback I decided to use self-leveling concrete and cut (or form it in ...
6
votes
1answer
628 views
How do I prepare an interior cement floor for painting?
I have an enclosed carport that serves as 4th bedroom/den in a 30 year old house. This room has long been used as storage, etc, and is in fairly bad shape. I'm rehabbing it to serve as a home office, ...
3
votes
2answers
652 views
How do you determine the slope of a floor?
What are some methods for figuring out the slope of a floor?
I've always heard the slope referenced as, eg: "1/2inch over 6ft." - is this the normal way, and/or are there other common ways to say ...
6
votes
3answers
3k views
How do I level a basement floor but not the slab underneath?
I'd like to install laminate floor on top of Delta FL in my basement.
The basement slab is not level, it slopes (from all directions) towards a floor drain (that, via a pipe, leads to a sump pump) ...
8
votes
3answers
2k views
Is a radiant floor enough to heat the room?
I would like to know if an electric or hydronic radiant floor is enough to heat the room or if it's just to have a warm floor. And if yes, what is the efficiency (the time it take to warm the room, ...
4
votes
4answers
1k views
Do I have to check if my floor is level before installing new linoleum (from a roll, not tiles)?
I just tore up my old linoleum flooring and will be installing new linoleum in the next few days. Some internet research has revealed that I need to make sure the floor is level and, if it is not ...
2
votes
1answer
162 views
How can I reduce squeaks in wood floors when no felt paper was installed between floor and plywood?
I've purchased a home where the previous owner installed 3/4" wide plank pine over a 5/8" plywood subfloor. The plywood is glued to a concrete slab but there is no felt paper between the 2 woods. ...
1
vote
1answer
626 views
How do I install a vapor barrier and insulation in an existing floor?
I have a large room in my house that is built over a crawl space. The floor of this room does not have any insulation installed in it. I live in upstate New York so it is my understanding that I ...
4
votes
3answers
3k views
Can I lay down solid wood planks on top of my basement concrete floor?
I live in Oakville, Ontario and have a detached home with an unfinished basement with concrete floor. I would like to put hardwood flooring in part of the basement. Instead of tongue and groove ...
6
votes
2answers
407 views
How can I cheaply refresh parquet in an apartment?
We've recently rented an apartment with seriously damaged parquet. Since the deal is "take it or leave it", we've decided to "mend" the parquet ourselves.
Dictionary :) Sorry for my bad english, I ...
2
votes
0answers
209 views
How do I remove mold and mildew from subfloor of a house with crawl space? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Mold remediation in crawlspace
House with crawl space has mold and mildew on the sub-floor. I've determined the cause is no vapor barrier and a leaky pipe and there is ...
1
vote
1answer
145 views
Water damage in the kitchen
Today, we went out of the house for about an hour and when we came back the whole kitchen was flooded. Turned out the cold water soft connection for the kitchen sink had somehow disconnected (?).
We ...
8
votes
1answer
290 views
Which is least likely to crack due to high traffic, large or small tile?
Consider a kitchen on pier-beam flooring with two doors allowing traffic to flow through it.
The floor is 10x10 feet. I plan to tile and would like to minimize risk of cracking. Which size tile would ...
3
votes
2answers
767 views
Should I seal, waterproof a concrete basement floor before painting?
What is the best sealer/waterproofer to put on a basement floor that I just want to paint. New construction, no water problems, but washer & drier & water heater are in basement and add to ...
3
votes
4answers
103 views
Which way to put a parquette floor according to windows?
I have heard people saying that hardwood-floors should always be put alongside windows while others claim it should be put orthogonal to windows.
Which one is the better way now?
2
votes
1answer
254 views
Is floor paint on concrete purely aesthetic or actually functional?
I have a large thatched barn recently (6 months) laid with a concrete floor to replace the original mud floor. The concrete was dusting badly, especially near where a table tennis table sits, so I ...
10
votes
4answers
5k views
How do you stop the floor from squeaking?
I have a home built in the 1940's. The main floor creaks a lot and more squeaking and creaks seem to spring up in new places all the time.
Is there an easy way to stop the squeaking and creaking? I ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
How can I clean a very dirty concrete basement floor?
My basement floor has been made amazingly gross (thank you, cats) and I'd like to get it really clean. Is there an option other than scrubbing on hands and knees? Are there cleaning solutions that ...
3
votes
1answer
70 views
Normal Hardwood floor installation on a wood structured deck
We need help on installing hardwood floors made of larch (a type of cedar). They are 3/4 wide and we want to install them just as we would inside a house. We will oil them with an exterior ...
4
votes
1answer
206 views
Dealing with scratched floor tile
I have a kitchen with a tile floor. In one corner, there's been a pedestal style garbage bin. It seems that stepping on the foot pedal has caused the bin to shift slightly during each use, and over ...
2
votes
1answer
356 views
painting a cork floor (previously coated with polyurethane varnish)
Our cork kitchen floor has a white stain and coated with 3 coats of polyurethane varnish two years ago. But the varnish has begun to wear through and the cork colour is visible.
We were never happy ...
0
votes
2answers
134 views
Preparing surface when tiling over existing tiles
I'm retiling our bathroom and intend to tile over the top of the existing floor tiles. The floor is in fair condition at the moment with no cracking except in one place which I did myself and will ...
1
vote
1answer
352 views
How level should a new floor be?
How out-of-level or out-of-plane does a floor need to be before it is noticeable?
Many of the houses I've lived in have floors that are out-of-level, visible to the naked eye. At what point does that ...
10
votes
1answer
2k views
How do I meet the 7 feet high ceiling requirement after finishing the basement?
My basement ceiling joists are exactly 7 feet above the concrete slab. The requirement for finished living space is 7 ft from the finished floor to the finished ceiling. Since I'll loose a couple of ...
1
vote
4answers
435 views
What types of flooring can be used with electric radiant heat?
I am considering converting an old enclosed sleeping porch into a usable room year round (in Ohio). Currently the floor is a big slope to allow for drainage when it was still open, obviously I want ...
4
votes
2answers
5k views
How do I properly jack up one side of my house?
As I write this, I have a slight lean as I walk on my floor in some parts of my house, and it's even worse on the upper floor. In some parts upstairs, it feels almost like you have to grab something. ...
0
votes
1answer
307 views
Alternatives to wood joists
I have a brick(3 wythe) building and starting to plan a kitchen remodel. The floor in the kitchen is pretty slanted and the wood joists don't look too good. So I will need some way to level the floor. ...
2
votes
4answers
754 views
How can I improve the cold floor in my ground-floor unit?
My home is a ground-floor unit in a condominium. The floor is really quite cold and I'd like to do something about that. I saw in another question the suggestion to use Platon. Would I be able to put ...
3
votes
2answers
3k views
Standard height from floor to ceiling?
Is there a standard height from floor to ceiling. I want to install some false ceiling (plaster board) ...
I seem to remember there was a standard but i don't remember it
Any help really appreciated
...
8
votes
2answers
454 views
Is a sagging floor possibly detrimental?
I live in a house built in the early 1900's. The dining room, which is in the center of the house, sags enough to where you could set a marble in the middle and it will always roll to one side.
The ...
2
votes
1answer
510 views
How do I pull up sheets of plywood from the floor?
I have ripped up the carpet in the master bedroom and found that between the sheets of plywood there is cold air blowing in because part of the floor is over the garage.
I want to pull up the nailed ...
5
votes
3answers
7k views
How do I use 'surface shims' to level out a sloping floor?
Asked a question about leveling my floor here earlier this week, and one of the options suggested sounded appealing, but didn't contain enough detail for me (a not-too-handy, ...
5
votes
4answers
6k views
Where should I start laying nail down hardwood flooring and how do I make it straight?
I'm planning to install tongue and groove hardwood flooring in my living room, dining room, kithcen, hallway, and powder room. The longest unbroken length of floor runs from the front bay of the house ...
8
votes
1answer
14k views
How can I level a sloped floor?
I have a 10x13 first-floor room which used to be a porch but at some point was closed in by the previous owners, and sheet linoleum was glued down to the plywood subfloor. Unfortunately they didn't ...
2
votes
1answer
163 views
How do I fix an irregular hole in my heater closet?
The plumbers cut a roughly rectangular hole in the water heater/heater closet floor when fixing the drain pipe for the condensate line. The closet is located in the garage. There are two 2" PVC ...
6
votes
4answers
1k views
What are the pros and cons of various hardwood floor finishes?
Trying to decide how to stain/finish some new oak hardwood floors. What are the pros and cons of various options like stain+poly, tung oil, etc. I'm wondering about lifetime cost, durability, ability ...
5
votes
4answers
1k views
How do I make my floors more stable?
My builder did (what seems to me) a cut rate job on my floors.
When I walk around in my house my table and entertainment center (and other such things) shake as I walk past them. (Heaven help me if ...
5
votes
2answers
3k views
How do I level an unlevel floor?
The second floor of my house is not to level. The walls are, everything is straight but the floor has a slight pitch.
I'm about to remove the current glued vinyl tiles and replace it with a regular ...
6
votes
2answers
1k views
How do I make a manhole?
I have a 100+ year old house with wooden floors.
At the moment, access to the subfloor is difficult, involving a long 25 meter crawl under the deck.
I'd like to install a manhole in the floor. Is ...
7
votes
2answers
12k views
How can I build a cheap, do-it-yourself dance floor?
I would like to make a cheap DIY dance floor and I attained a roll of 3.5 ft x 6 ft vinyl linoleum for free. Can I use this in making a dance floor? Has anyone built their own cheap DIY and what ...
