Need Advice for a New Floor

974 Views 6 Replies 3 Participants Last post by BabsHoney, Jan 5, 2013

BabsHoney

Discussion Starter · Jan 4, 2013

We are remodeling our bedroom, and I wanted some advice before we proceed with the floor.

We have gutted the room, and the floor was carpet, no pad, hardwood (with bits of glue and tile stuck all over the place - not sure how many floors there have been over the years), then black felt paper (?), then the planks that lie directly on top of the floor joists.

In the picture this is the floor half removed. You can see the hardwood on the left, then the paper, then the planks.

These planks have knot holes everywhere and gaps between them and you can see right down to the dirt floor of the crawlspace. As you can imagine, it's pretty cold in there right now! (Thank goodness the heat doesn't go to that room anyway, I would hate to be heating the outside!)

So my question is, what next?
My guess would be something to replace that felt paper, plywood, and then our new flooring. Am I right? Am I even close?

If we do need some kind of felt paper or "house wrap" if you will, what would be the best way about putting it down? The previous layer just laid on the floor with the layer of hardwood holding it in place.

Thanks in advance!

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joecaption

· #2 · Jan 4, 2013

What's going down for the finished flooring?
If those old planks are in bad shape (cracks or broken areas between the joist, gaps and knots do not count) If it was my job I'd take the time to remove them. You can use a Toe Kick saw to cut them up right next to the walls and an ossilating or sawsall to cut out the corners.

If there not cracked then I'd add screws to every place there sitting on the joist to stablize them and go over the whole floor with Advantec 3/4" T & G subflooring. It gets attached every 4" on the edges and just follow the nailing pattern printed on the sheets for the rest. All of the long seams need to be sitting on a joist.
What's next would depend on what the finished flooring will be.

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BabsHoney

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jan 4, 2013

The finished floor will most likely be a engineered hardwood.

The planks do seem to be in ok shape, so thanks for the advice on that.

So with this AdvanTech product I don't need anything between it and the planks?

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joecaption

· #4 · Jan 4, 2013

Since you have a crawl dirt space I'd do two things, add a 6 mil plastic vaper barrier on the ground in the crawl space (very important to keep the moisture in the ground from rising and causing fungus on the undersides of the subflooring and joist.)
And a layer of roofing felt or kraft paper under the new flooring when it goes in. I just staple it down to keep it from moving while work on the flooring.

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Awoodfloorguy

· #5 · Jan 4, 2013

If doing a floating engineered the underlayment that is used will insulate a little and help protect the new floor from moisture. However, as the other person mentioned it would probably be a good idea to also do something in the crawl space to help prevent this. If you are wanting to staple an engineered hardwood, then I would screw down the old planks, add a layer of felt paper, sheet the floor with 1/2" plywood, then use another layer of felt and then staple the flooring down. For stapling engineered I recommend this stapler.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...oogleMKP&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA. I believe that many tool rental shops rent these. Hope this helps.

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joecaption

· #6 · Jan 4, 2013

Not looking to disagree but let me explain my reasoning.
A layer of 3/4 Advantec all by itself would be more then enough to support the engineered flooring. I would not use 1/2 because it's going to conform to whatever it is below it or just may flex enough to cause squecks.
The 1/2" plywood just might work but I only get paid once to do a job so I over build to avoid having a do over.

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BabsHoney

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jan 5, 2013

Well we went to Home Depot last night and surprise! There was actually an associate who knew what he was talking about!
(I'm not a fan of the big box but we got a big ol' HD gift card for the holidays and we do NOT look a gift horse in the mouth)
So... They don't carry the specific AdvanTech any more but the product they do carry is made by the same folks. $29 a sheet but it's a small room. I do like that idea better than just plywood.
We also picked out the underlayment.
Now I just have to pick my floor. I know what color I want and that's as far as I've gotten.

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Need Advice for a New Floor

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