Questions tagged [subfloor]
Structure above the floor joists and below any finished flooring.
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Preparing uneven floor for cement board
I have two sections of flooring that are currently uneven by about 1/4". One side is 3/4" OSB, and the other is 3/4" Plywood. Both sides are screwed and glued onto joists. I'm planning on putting ...
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How to level two different floor heights to prepare for carpet?
We have a second floor bedroom that was added onto the old house a long time ago and it is 1.25" lower than the hallway. The bedroom currently has hardwoods.
What is the best way to raise the floor ...
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Hole in subfloor under stove: Do I fix? If so do I put flooring over it?
In preparation for porcelain tile installation in my kitchen I removed the vinyl stick-on squares the previous owner threw down before selling and the 1/4" plywood underneath those. When I pulled the ...
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Can I 'glue and screw' 1/2" and 3/8" plywood sheets to substitute for 7/8"?
Replacing damaged parts of a plank floor that is 7/8" thick. Need a level surface to lay another 1/2" plywood subfloor layer. Can I 'glue and screw' a two thinner pieces of plywood (1/2" and 3/8"), or ...
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Subfloor: styrofoam insulation between sleepers or strapping on top of styrofoam?
I'm building bedrooms where a basement garage used to be. The floor of the former garage is a concrete slab that I have resurfaced. My plan is to install OSB subfloor and paint it for now, probably ...
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Clean or Replace subfloor
I removed old stick on tile from my bathroom and this is what my subfloor looks like.
All that white is the adhesive. From what I can tell so far there is no mold or rot. Is it work it to remove this ...
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How to remove tile with mesh embedded in cement bed?
I am doing a bathroom remodel on a late '60s house. The bathroom tile is set on a roughly 1.5" cement bed with embedded wire mesh. I have removed a small portion with a rotary hammer with a pointed ...
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Removal of leftover glue from glued down 3/4 T&G flooring
In the process of removing the 3 different types of flooring in the house we just bought and before we move in get the major things out of the way. Carpet is easy enough for the most part, the house ...
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Is 15/32" Plywood okay for Subfloor under tile?
Is 15/32" plywood thick enough to be used as a subfloor under tile combined with a 1/4" hardiebacker board?
The joists underneath are 2x8s that are 16" apart on center and only 4' long.
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How to seal hardwood floor in preparation of self-leveling compound?
I'm planning to float laminate over my existing floor, but need to level it first. The floor area is very large, so it spans areas of the home that have differing subfloor materials: concrete, ...
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Installing plywood over 1x6 subfloor in preparation for engineered hardwood
I’m prepping to install ½” thick Armstrong Engineered Hardwood 7” tongue and groove planks in the kitchen and family room in our 1964 home. I have several questions about preparing the subfloor and ...
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What's the proper height above a subfloor, for an exterior inswing door threshold? Carpet? Tile? Hardwood?
I need to build a custom door threshold for an in-swing exterior door where there's no exterior overhang or porch.
At the moment there is only subfloor, no finish floor.
How high above the subfloor ...
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If I have vapor barrier under joists in crawlspace, is hardwood underlayment a problem?
I have spray foam under the subfloor with vapor barrier. The foam is sprayed to the underside of the subfloor deck, and vapor barrier is attached to the joists bottoms between the joists and the soil ...
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How to prepare my floor to install engineered hardwood?
I currently have linoleum flooring in my kitchen, bathroom and laundry room and carpet everywhere else. I would like to install engineered hardwood flooring throughout my home with the exception of ...
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Raise Stepdown Living Room
I am needing to raise my sunken living room 7" to be flush with existing floor. All the outlets and windows are fine as is and the cieling is vaulted so that isnt an issue. Right now there is a ...
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How can I even out my subfloor?
I bought a fixer-upper knowing little about how much of a headache I was creating for myself.
I've recently removed the hardwood flooring that was lain directly on the joists (no subfloor) of my ...
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Plywood underlayment over plywood subfloor - how to secure
I am taking up carpet & particle board and putting a new layer of 1/2" plywood underlayment over the plywood subfloor prior to installing 3/4" hardwood (nailed down). I know I should orient the ...
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How do I lay hardwood over a transition in a room that is not level?
We are going to be laying hardwood in our entire upper floor. The subfloor between two of the rooms is on a bit of a slope. What's the best way to lay the hardwood over this transition. We are going ...
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Do I need a subfloor or a Dricore subfloor panels on concrete (basement) for ceramic tile?
I'm trying to do the most intelligent, yet cost efficient method to tiling by concrete basement floor. On some sites, it states to use a subfloor, with the underlayment. Others it states to just ...
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How can I remove / replace this OSB floor?
I would like to update the flooring in a carpeted room, replacing the carpet with hardwood. I've removed the carpet, carpet padding, and tack carpet strips.
Underneath the carpeting was OSB ...
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Proper installation when replacing particle board underlayment with 3/4 advantec over 1/2" plywood subfloor?
My home's flooring was originally 1/2 plywood subfloor with 3/4 particle board underlayment. I have since removed the particle board and plan to replace it with 3/4 Advantec. My current plan is:
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How flat does a subfloor need to be for laminate?
My kitchen floor is dished. The middle of one interior wall was set on a pier without sufficient compaction. The settling was rapid, as the upper cabinets are set level, while the floor is 2 inches ...
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Should I seal this floor or should I just put down vapor barrier before tiling?
I had some water compromise a vanity, leading to its removal. There was a void in the floor where it was originally tiled around, so the entire floor will be retiled.
Upon demolition, I noticed some ...
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Can I lay 1/2" plywood over existing subfloor that has some damage
Due to water damage I am having to replace about 1200 sq ft of flooring which was all newly installed. However, the way my floor is I'm confused on how to do this without removing the bottom subfloor. ...
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Why does my cork subfloor test positive for formaldehyde?
This week I have been having engineered wood flooring installed, with a 1/2 in. cork subfloor installed to help reduce sound transmission between upstairs and downstairs.
I bought a tester off of ...
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How to Level subfloor for hardwood
I just pulled up my carpet to install 3/4 solid oak hardwood and found my floors have been built badly, very un-level. 2/3 of the floor is okay in one direction but then it drops off. It is so bad I ...
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Fixing squeak in subfloor
I’m having carpet installed in a few days, so I’m going through and pulling up the carpet and pad to put in deck screws in the subfloor plywood where there are squeaks. So far going well, but there is ...
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How do I fix/fill this void left by previously tiling around a bathroom vanity
Previous home owners tiled around a vanity, then the vanity needed to come out. Now this void approximately one inch deep is left, and we want to fill it and retile so we can use a wider variety of ...
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Looking for the least expensive way to level Basement floor
How can I level my basement floor, which has a 2-3inch dip in the middle?
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Sagging Floors and loose floorboards
My house is about 118 years old and I can tell from all around the house that there seems to be a sagging on my floors in one specific area. This sagging is obvious in the first and second floor. Now ...
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Why my hardwood floor is buckling
I’ve replaced the carpet in one of our room with hardwood, about a year ago, which buckled up by the end of the summer this year.
There is a crowlspace under the house, where I found no leaks, but ...
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Is it safe to have power cables dangling outside the house?
The bedroom split air conditioner gets it's power cable from the switches in the kitchen and goes under the tile floor to the bedroom. Problem is, it leads to an old switch fuse box thing that is far ...
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Damage to the sub floor while scraping tile
I have a question about a hardi backer sub floor. I installed tile 8 years ago and my wife decided she wanted a diferent tile. The sub floor was laid over linoleum with a 1/4 in backer board that was ...
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Is 1/2" plywood adequate for a slab overlay?
I am planning to take the 1" EPS + plywood sandwich approach to my basement subfloor (pergo on top). I've read conflicting things around the plywood -- is 1/2" ply sufficient? Do I need to do two ...
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How do I properly lay a tongue and groove plywood subfloor remodel when joist layout is not always 16" oc?
I'm working on a remodel of a room that spans two different areas of a house.
Each area has joists 16" OC but where they come together there is a "short" bay; one where it is not a full 16" between ...
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Squeak AFTER Carpet install
We just had new carpet installed. My once quiet floor
now squeaks all over. Prior to our last carpet install we'd screwed everything down and it was perfect.
The only thing I can think is that they ...
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Replacing bathroom carpet with Vinyl
I'm going to replace my bathroom carpet with a Vinyl floor, but want to make sure I get it level and waterproofed.
Assuming there's a level subfloor, can I use a regular Aquastop underlay?
Whats the ...
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how to remove the particle board subfloor underlayment quickly?
I have a master bedroom and office which have particle board underlayment. I can tell it is off-gassing formaldehyde because I can smell it!
I plan to replace the carpet in a month so I'd like to ...
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Using Attic/Loft Space Above Garage for Storage - Adding a Subfloor
I have a 2-car garage that is not cooled or heated. Above the garage is an attic/loft space. The attic has beams (they are large beams, not 2-by-4s) that are spaced 16 inches apart. The beams have ...
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Hardwood Flooring Direction on Older Subfloor
I have some old hardwood flooring in my house and I'm considering installing new hardwood floors as it's not in the best shape. The house was built in the 1940's and has an older type of subfloor that ...
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Is subfloor / underlayment for tile different for a small area
Normally for plank subfloor one is supposed to add 1/2 inch of plywood plus cement backer board for underlayment. For a small area say 4 feet by four feet is all of this necessary?
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How to fix plywood subfloor butt joint that is off by 1/8" before installing hardwood flooring
My title pretty much asks the question, but for slightly more detail: I am prepping to put in some 3/4" hardwood flooring on the upstairs (2nd floor) of my 1970s house. My subfloor has had only ...
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What are the consequences to laying continuous floating floor without using transitioning pieces?
I have a manufactured home with OSB subfloor, to install another subfloor for hardwood would cause a lot of problems. I want a continuous floating floor with no transitioning pieces and I want to know ...
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Under-floor heating and sub-floor [closed]
I want to replace my existing carpeted living room with a wooden/laminate floor - as part of this project, I was also considering putting under-floor heating in.
Currently, the floor consist of ...
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How to resolve subfloor squeaking when screwing does not fix the problem?
I just bought a new house, and the subfloor is very squeaky. The subfloor is 3/4" tongue-and-groove OSB which has been nailed down on 19" spaced joists. Luckily, I am changing the carpet to wood ...
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How should I strengthen my floor joists that are too small?
I have a house that is 120yrs old. The floor joists on the ground floor are only 74mm x 55mm and spaced 350mm on centres. The brickwork that holds up the floor joists is pretty rough and doesn't have ...
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How do I dry out a damp patch in my subfloor?
I bought my house over a year ago and had the hardwood oak floors refinished. One of the bedrooms had water damage from a leaking roof (previous owners fixed this before I purchased the house) so they ...
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What should I do about a huge gap under the drywall and baseboard when installing luxury vinyl tile?
I am installing luxury vinyl tile in a room and I am having an issue with the gap. My drywall sits about an inch from the subfloor. There is no drywall there at floor level to hold the LVT in place. ...
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Must I screed/level floor that has a slight apex @ centerline?
I am installing 6x24" wood look porcelain tile in an approx 200 sqft room.
It is rectified tile, remarkably flat for long tile.
To prepare the subfloor, I had someone install 5/8" plywood over the ...
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What length of screws to use over 3/4" plywood
What length of screw should be used when screwing 3/4" plywood subfloor to the decking underneath, in preparation for a new sheet vinyl floor?