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June 17, 2009
Subfloor re-enforcement
I'm about to put down some 9 inch wide pine flooring. My subfloor, which is 3/4 inch plywood, is a little warped, and in some places there is a little flex. I'm thinking about putting down a layer of 1/2 plywood over the existing subfloor, grain in the opposite direction, before putting the flooring down. I'd glue and screw it into the joists.
I could use a flooring edger to knock down some of the existing plywood, but I like the idea of reenforcing, both for the flex, and for sound.
Any recommendations on what I might use to glue down? Does it make sense to use some sort of mastic instead in order to even out the floor?
BTW, I got the flooring from a guy in Michigan who delivered it himself. I haven't put the floor down yet or finished it, but so far it looks like it's going to be great. If anyone is interested, I'll post his url, or email it to you.
Comments
If you can afford it GreenGlue will help with the sound and act as an adhesive. If you shop around it cost about 80 cents a sq ft for the material. I've used it only in walls and it helps,but will not eliminate all noise. It probably works better in floors as it dampens structure borne noise. Otherwise almost any flooring mastic will work. You don't need the best because you have so much surface area. But be sure to use short screws between the joists as well . 1/2" plywood will do a good job of flattening and stiffening your floor
Posted by: edifice rex at June 17, 2009 10:34 AM
Before you start glueing and putting down another layer of subfloor find the location of the joists below snap some chalk lines and go to town screwing down the existing subfloor. If it was originally nailed down chances are that the nails have worked themselves loose over time. If they were screwed in originally the constantly changing live load can cause a tiny bit of play which gets larger with time. Put new 2" screws in about 1'-0" on center. You can use drywall screws unless you expect moisture (probably not since you"re planning on the wide plank pine).
Posted by: HDL at June 17, 2009 2:04 PM
.80 a square foot is more than I'm willing to spend on the glue. What type of flooring mastic would you use? Do you think this would be good?
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100574569
Posted by: bpeikes at June 17, 2009 8:18 PM
Liquid Nails will adhere tighter to the plys tahn the plywood holds itself together,
Why don't you fix the subfloor? Half inch plywood isn't going to fix the condition that damaged the existing, so why use duct tape?
30 years of doing this have taught me it's always easier to do it right, than try to patch over.
Pine floring sounds nice, how thick? DOn't count on the finish floor to give strength the way oak would.
Posted by: brucef at June 18, 2009 11:47 PM
im looking to redo my floor with wide plank pine
what is the url?
royl123 at yahoo dot com
Posted by: 11211 at June 19, 2009 6:30 PM
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