How to install flooring (Subfloor un-even)

[Fred Wilson]

Hello all,

My wife has had it with the carpet in our kitchen (i really don't blame her). So we all know what that means, Fred is going to be installing flooring.

Here is the catch. A few years ago I remodeled our basement. One of the joist under the kitchen was failing so I put in another joist next to the old one. In doing so, I jacked up the floor a little too far and did not catch it until it was way too late; after the glue dried and the bolts were in.

So anyway, there is hump in the floor. It is not visually noticeable with the carpet down but you can feel it when you walk across the floor. I have to say, that portion of the floor is REAL strong.

Short of very small tile (really don't want tile) what are our options? I really think that using sheet lanolium would be a very bad idea as it will telegraph the hump and cheapen the kitchen.

Any ideas?

Thank you, Fred

[bamboo]

Take the bolts out and see if it slips any, run a sawzall down the glue line. Redo the repair. Or set your tile in a full mortar bed and adjust for the hump.

What? you thought there was a shortcut?

Fred Wils> Hello all,

[Fred Wilson]

Hahaha, funny reply. Not really a shortcut. Is there really a shortcut for my stupidity?

Be kind of hard to redo the job, the basement if completely finished.

What about Cork floor. Think it might be flexible enough to mold to the hump and not be too noticeable?

Thanks, Fred

[e-mail] wrote:

[EXT]

How big a hump, if you put a 4 foot level across it how much space do you have on each side. After stripping down to the sub-floor, possibly you could add some floor levelling compound to each side so that the hump tapers off, that way it would be less noticeable. This way you would have more flexibility on the type of floor covering. Full 3/4 hardwood would never "flow" over the hump even if you taper it off, but many of the 3/8" engineered floorings will follow a gentle bump in the floor.

[David Martel]

Fred,

How bad is the hump? Lots of vinyl sheet flooring will work in kitchens and is forgiving of small errors. Other solutions are to feather the hump a bit with a sander or leveling compound.

Dave M.

[Fred Wilson]

David,

You and the other poster indicated the leveling compound. I would worry about the weight.

Any thoughts?

Fred

David Martel wrote:

[<aemeijers]

How much of the old floor were you planning to strip? You could always saw out a section of subfloor, and expose the top of the now-high joist, and plane it down. If you cut so the cuts land on adjacent joists, and add blocking as needed to screw the patch back in, you could probably feather the patch back in with leveling compound pretty easy. This is how you replace waste lines in bathrooms above plastered ceilings. Takes a good carpenter to pull off, but not that complicated technically. Hard part will be all the hand work planing the joist and getting it even with the neighbors. (Think long level with a subfloor+legacy flooring height shim taped under it.) If you have a router, and can make a non-sagging jig to hold it at the right height, you could relevel the top of the joist that way. Depending on what subfloor is made of, and how it was fastened to joists, you may even be able to reuse the cut out plug as the patch, otherwise you will have to fake it as best you can with built-up layers of plywood. It&#39;ll never see daylight again, so it doesn&#39;t have to be pretty, just strong and squeak-free. Screws and construction adhesive are the fasteners of choice for reassembly.

aem sends...

[Fred Wilson]

AEM,

This has merit. I&#39;ll keep it in mind.

Fred

[e-mail] wrote:

[David Martel]

Fred,

I can&#39;t see your problem from here so I can&#39;t advise you about the weight of leveling compound but normally leveling compound isn&#39;t applied so thickly that weight is a problem. Just how tall is this hump and how abruptly does the floor rise? Is it the height or the sudden rise that is a problem?

Dave M.

[Not]

[Goedjn]

[Fred Wilson]