how do i preserve wood slats subfloor? What can I put on top of the wood slats subfloor?

l79gemini

I have mold in my baby's bedroom and had to rip up the floor. We put down wood pergo planks in her room. We took up the pergo planks one by one, and underneath that, we saw was lineoleum. The lineoleum was glued to a hardwood floor it was covered with a tar like adhesive substance and tons of nails I guess to hold the lineoleum in place. Underneath the lineoleum/hardwood floor was the subfloor made of wood slats. Now I see that some of the wood slats are rotted, instead of ripping up the whole subfloor, how can I preserve or clean them? And once that is done what can I put on top of the wood slats subfloor? I want to put back down my existing wood pergo planks.

JazMan

Hi Gemini,

You will need to remove any planks that are damaged of course. Cut at center of joist, but make sure all boards are supported by at least 3 joists. If some are structurally good, but have some mold, use a product called Condrobium. http://www.concrobium.com/ Do not bother with bleach, it will not work very well on porous materials, plus the smell is not good.

Once you're confident all is OK, you can install plywood underlayment and then your laminate floor. The underlayment should be min. 3/8" if the planks are flat and sturdy, thicker would be better though. I recommend 1/2" or thicker if the added height doesn't bother anything.

Back to the origin of the mold. Is this something that just happened or was it covered many years ago? Is the Pergo damaged, did it get wet? Laminate products may contain nasty chemicals too, it's not real as you know.

Jaz

__________________
Tile 4 You LLC Troy, MI
KERDI Shower Specialist ... DITRA Installs ... Product-Method suitability consultation. I have NEVER made a mistake, I thought I did once...........but I was wrong! - PRODUCTS ADVERTISED WITHIN MY POST ARE NOT ENDORSED BY ME!