Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Very UN-level hardwood(want to install laminate)
Doityourself.com community forum was created to provide answers to all questions related to home improvement and home repair. Doityourself community can help you find information about how-to topics on small fixes to large remodeling projects. With comprehensive how-to content and expertly moderated community forums DoItYourself.com makes it easy to tackle even the most complex home improvement projects.View Full Version : Very UN-level hardwood(want to install laminate)
STUB
09-04-07, 03:15 PM
Not sure what to do here. Room is only 12'x14' with a small hallway connected to it. Subfloor consists of 1x4's run diagonaly over the floor joists with oak hardwood flooring on top. The floor has a lot of small gaps and is VERY uneven. I figure my options are the following:
1.Put carpet down instead
2.Use some type of leveling compound(would almost cover entire floor)
3.Sand down high spots(do they make a floor planer??)I've never used a floor sander before. Can they do some serious sanding? I have some serious high spots(or low spots depending)
At a couple different points it's about 3/8" low. Thats obviously unacceptable. Another factor is cost. Anything I put into this home I will not be getting back. The carpet we took out needed replacing and we really wanted laminate. Worst case scenario we go back to carpet. Part of me wants to tackle the project just to conquer it though. I know laying the laminate will be easy enough, it's always the darn prep work...
Thanks,
Ron
1.Put carpet down instead
2.Use some type of leveling compound(would almost cover entire floor)
3.Sand down high spots(do they make a floor planer??)I've never used a floor sander before. Can they do some serious sanding? I have some serious high spots(or low spots depending)
At a couple different points it's about 3/8" low. Thats obviously unacceptable. Another factor is cost. Anything I put into this home I will not be getting back. The carpet we took out needed replacing and we really wanted laminate. Worst case scenario we go back to carpet. Part of me wants to tackle the project just to conquer it though. I know laying the laminate will be easy enough, it's always the darn prep work...
Thanks,
Ron
Carpets Done Wright
09-05-07, 05:57 PM
There are some substrate, that will cost you a small fortune, to get the to spec. for a hardsurface flooring.
It sounds like home jacking & leveling, along with some joist re-engineering may be in your future.
It sounds like home jacking & leveling, along with some joist re-engineering may be in your future.
STUB
09-08-07, 02:21 PM
So the directions say that the limit of unlevelness cannot exceed 3/16" over a 10' radius. My floor is more like 1/8" unlevel between each floor joist. It's 'wavy'. So what I'm trying to say is that I don't just have an overall low spot, it's low between each floor joist. Now if I stretch an 8' straight edge it will be around 1/2" difference between each end, but thats almost more like a slope which shouldn't matter should it?
Thanks,
ron
Thanks,
ron
fidoprincess
09-08-07, 03:18 PM
When we had our floor installed, the installer said it was the most uneven floor he ever saw! But.. the carpet was already ripped out (and I really really wanted the hardwood floor!) so he used a lot of different techniques depending on how bad certain spots were.
In the worst spots, they installed new plywood over the old and "feathered" it by sanding the higher spots and building up the lower spots. I am not exactly sure what the wood was called but there were some different thicknesses that could be stacked up to make it thicker. The whole length of the hall was crooked with the main joist running down the right of the hall and the left side was off by so much I felt like I was in a fun house! Never noticed it with carpet but they managed to install and feather all the subfloo good as new. We had one spot in our dining room that was like a big sink hole and they used shingles (yes, roof shingles) to build up that spot. One part of the floor against the wall was over 2" lower as if it had sunk and they managed to make it level. In other areas where the subfloor sheets of plywood didn't quite match up and were off, they used some type of leveling compound that could be "worked" like joint compound and smoothed out with a flat knife. The prep work for this took days and days for around 1500 sq ft and of course, cost me extra but the floor is level as can be and you can not see the low or high spots anywhere now. Our subfloor was 1 3/4 inch plywood so I am not sure that you can use all the same techniques but just thought I'd throw out some ideas. This site talks about the shingles and other tips: http://www.askthebuilder.com/486_Getting_a_New_Hardwood_Floor_Level.shtml
We know what caused the biggest part of our "unlevel" problems since we live in earthquake country and had been though the big loma prieta earthquake in "89. We only live about 10 miles from the epicenter! At that time, some of the joists/posts had slipped entirely off the piers and we had to have a crew come in and redo the entire support system under the house and bolt the piers to the posts. We should have had the house jacked up at that time and tried to level everything out but we did the best we could then. If you are so inclined, I would probably take what Carpets Done Wright says about home jacking & leveling seriously and at least have it checked out. Many of the homes here were jacked up and leveled out and it was not really that expensive if they waited until the "main crisis" and high demand passed. Even if you don't have it done, it is good to know if you have a problem and what might be causing it.
In the worst spots, they installed new plywood over the old and "feathered" it by sanding the higher spots and building up the lower spots. I am not exactly sure what the wood was called but there were some different thicknesses that could be stacked up to make it thicker. The whole length of the hall was crooked with the main joist running down the right of the hall and the left side was off by so much I felt like I was in a fun house! Never noticed it with carpet but they managed to install and feather all the subfloo good as new. We had one spot in our dining room that was like a big sink hole and they used shingles (yes, roof shingles) to build up that spot. One part of the floor against the wall was over 2" lower as if it had sunk and they managed to make it level. In other areas where the subfloor sheets of plywood didn't quite match up and were off, they used some type of leveling compound that could be "worked" like joint compound and smoothed out with a flat knife. The prep work for this took days and days for around 1500 sq ft and of course, cost me extra but the floor is level as can be and you can not see the low or high spots anywhere now. Our subfloor was 1 3/4 inch plywood so I am not sure that you can use all the same techniques but just thought I'd throw out some ideas. This site talks about the shingles and other tips: http://www.askthebuilder.com/486_Getting_a_New_Hardwood_Floor_Level.shtml
We know what caused the biggest part of our "unlevel" problems since we live in earthquake country and had been though the big loma prieta earthquake in "89. We only live about 10 miles from the epicenter! At that time, some of the joists/posts had slipped entirely off the piers and we had to have a crew come in and redo the entire support system under the house and bolt the piers to the posts. We should have had the house jacked up at that time and tried to level everything out but we did the best we could then. If you are so inclined, I would probably take what Carpets Done Wright says about home jacking & leveling seriously and at least have it checked out. Many of the homes here were jacked up and leveled out and it was not really that expensive if they waited until the "main crisis" and high demand passed. Even if you don't have it done, it is good to know if you have a problem and what might be causing it.