Not looking good for my floors!

rlc2052 · 08-22-2008, 12:44 PM

I bought my house with 5/8" bamboo wood floors recently installed. They have started squeaking more and more lately. After pulling a few up to investigate, it seems like they were glued down to some pretty old plywood. The plywood sub floor seems to be moving around a lot causing the floors to squeak and crack. I can not get to the bottom of the sub floor because it is all I don't think I can salvage the boards because they are glued. Is there anything that can be done about this?

JazMan · 08-22-2008, 09:48 PM

Too late to fasten the subfloor now unless it was only a few spots and you have excess from below.

To reduce squeaks from the bamboo, sprinkle talc powder and work in the grooves with a brush. This often works if it is the finish flooring making the noise. Often however the squeaks are caused by loose nails in the subfloor. Are you saying the bamboo was not nailed at all.

Jaz

TazinCR · 08-24-2008, 08:41 AM

Is it a new home? Contact the builder.

rlc2052 · 08-24-2008, 05:39 PM

There are some nails in the boards, but they are also glued.

The house is 15 years old. I have contacted the previous owner and he is going to get me the number to the place that installed the floors.

It does not look good though. The plywood sub floor rips up if I pull up a board.

cbosleeds · 08-25-2008, 06:29 AM

Its a real shame that you are having problems with this, since bamboo is one of the few truly renewal materials out there. To harvest bamboo you don't even need to kill the plant, so whatever you take just grows straight back. I'd recommend bamboo for as many uses as you can possibly find for it. A friend of mine is even importing bamboo cotton at the moment - the towels made from it are amazingly soft - puts Eygptian cotton in the shade.

Sorry, this was a bit of a digression but I am pretty passionate about Bamboo at the moment

Brik · 08-25-2008, 10:44 AM

Quote:

The plywood sub floor rips up if I pull up a board.

Wow - How thick/thin is the subfloor? It sounds to me like it was installed on top of luan and not the actual subfloor. A mix of glue and nails sounds odd to me as well. May have to live with it. Best solution may be to rip it all up and do it correctly. A real wood floor can be face nailed through the surface board, subfloor into a joist to eliminate a squeek. The nail hole is then filled. Doing this with laminate can cause other issues. Also, finding a floor joist to hit can be hard. It may be worth while trying that as a stop gap if you are going to replace it down the road. A trim head screw may also work. The downside will be expansion and contraction. The screw will mess that up and you could get buckleing. If the floor is aclimated and the house rarely has humidity or temp changes then it wont be as much of an issues. For most of is it would be.

rlc2052 · 08-27-2008, 08:56 AM

Thanks for the help
The plywood sub floor is 3/4 inch thick. It looks like they glued down the first 5 rows of bamboo then started nailing them down from there. I think I am going to drill a few holes in the bamboo and attach the sub floor to the joist better. Then fill the holes with a plug made from left over boards. A stud finder on the floor below should help me locate the joists. I was also looking at using a Counter-Snap Kit to help hold the floors down better. http://www.worksavers.com/countersnap.html
The floors have been in for over a year, so they should be pretty acclimated.
Does this sound like a good plan?
Has anyone used the counter-snap kit before?