# New Flooring Wood Frame House (not sub flooring)



## Susan Mary (May 8, 2004)

Well I need my friends on HT to help me with new flooring.

We live in a wood frame, raised home (no slab). The raised home situation makes new flooring a problem.

When we purchased our home in 2006 we knew changing the flooring when it was time would be a challenge.

The house being raised, can have minimal movement. I have noticed and this was the case even in 2006 some of the flooring is not completely level but this is minimal.

Ok so looking for suggestions.

Thank you in advance.

Susan


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

I really do not have a clue as to what your asking,

are you looking for a floor covering, (carpet, tile, vinyl sheet goods, engineered wood, solid wood).

or to rebuild the floors in the building?

what is there now?


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

Are you talking about a home with a crawl space underneath?

Surely there is sub flooring and all you need to change is the decorative part. Or, has the sub flooring (on top of the joists) become damaged?


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## Susan Mary (May 8, 2004)

Sorry, what I am asking is what are my options with an un-even floor other than carpet?


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## wharton (Oct 9, 2011)

Susan Mary said:


> Sorry, what I am asking is what are my options with an un-even floor other than carpet?


Your options are limitless once you decide how, and if you need to address the 'uneven floor" situation. First, why, how, and to what extend did your home end up with a structural issue like this? Second, are you going to correct the issue? Two points to ponder here. A wooden floor structure with posts, beams, floor joists and a plywood subfloor is the norm for millions of homes in other parts of the country, so there are hundreds of flooring options available to you. Second, in reality, you are looking for a floor covering, be it tile, hardwood, carpet, stone or whatever. It will cover the subfloor and provide a decorative wear surface. That said, if you have structural issues in a newer home, they need to be addressed before you waste a dime on some type of flooring that may fail if the situation isn't corrected. If you are stuck with a situation like expansive clay causing seasonal movement that cannot be corrected, you need to be real careful about using products like tile, or traditional hardwoods.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

I would look at the cause and address it, or if it is not too bad, and is no longer moving, you could level the floor, then use hardwood. 

If you just put down new flooring without doing anything you may run into some serious problems. One it will not be level, but two, if your house is truly moving, then it will crack/split. 

If it were me, I'd address the cause.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

If fixing the movement problem isn't an option now look at Allure vinyl flooring. Nice heavy duty floating flooring that sticks together at the edge. They have a reasonable tile looking flooring and a very durable wood look type. There are similar products for other companies


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## Susan Mary (May 8, 2004)

The problem is and will continue to be heavy clay soil. With the drought we have been in the house will continue to move if only slightly. So correcting the few issues we have would be ok only to have the same issues pop up in other areas.

Hard tile is out, wood possible as is will move, put carpet is probably the best but the least liked for new flooring. 

Thank you for the help!


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

Depending on how bad it is, laminate flooring might work as it is a 'floating' floor. If I were you, I would go to Lowes or Home Depot and talk to them about your needs. There should be able to point you in the right direction.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

I don't know... do folks in the Houston area need to water their piers? I know folks in drought areas should water their foundations, to keep it from moving all apart. If you watered your piers, in the dry parts of the year, maybe it wouldn't be a problem (unless you have some way in the middle, a hose couldn't reach...


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## Old Swampgirl (Sep 28, 2008)

Do you have sub-flooring? If you can level the house first that might be best. My last house had been left abandoned for a long while & the heat/cold with our high humidity had ruined the floor boards in many places. I nailed 3/4" plywood on top of this old floor(& yes that was a lot of nailing without a fancy nail-gun), they I glued vinyl floor on top & it worked well. Had trouble with some seams after time, so covered these seams with flat metal strips. It was very functional for a country house. Oh, I forgot to say that I patched all seams between the 4 X 8 plywood panels & covered all nail holes with Quick Fix, so the vinyl would lie flat.


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## 6e (Sep 10, 2005)

Our house sits on a slab that is not totally level. It is what it is. What we put on it was laminate floating wood floor. If you have a spot that is very much uneven and you're afraid the laminate would break when someone stepped on it, you can put down a little bit thicker pad than the little thin pad they give you. More like carpet pad and yes it does work because that's what our installer did and it's been down for 8 years now and is fine, but the thicker pad sort of rides up and down on the uneven floor better.


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

If I'm reading this correctly, you have a wood floor over a crawlspace with the finish flooring (assuming plank or tongue & groove) installed directly to the joists with no subfloor. Is that correct? And during the minor seasonal shifts, one or more of the floor boards become uneven? Is that correct? And you've checked the existing floor to make sure that the boards are running perpendicular to the joists and there is at least 1 SCREW in every board (2 if they're wider than 4") into each joist it crosses to stabilize everything? (trust me, seeing some screw heads, or painting the floor to hide them, is cheaper than any of the following options) 

If my assumptions are correct, you have 5 options that don't involve messing with the piers or installing carpeting, but all will raise the floor height so you might need to cut down doors and trim molding, adjust base cabinets, etc.

Option 1: remove the floor boards, install a stable subfloor (3/4" OSB or plywood) and reinstall the original flooring. If your current floor boards aren't running perpendicular to the joists, this is really your best option. But if it is already sheet (ie. OSB/plywood subfloor with no finish floor), this won't help much.

Option 2: Install a cushioned membrane and new finish floor boards (wood or laminate) perpendicular over the existing floor boards (ie. parallel to the joists) to form a cross-hatched "web" that should stabilize everything.

Option 3: Install 3/8 or 1/2" OSB/plywood ("subfloor") over the existing floor ("sub-sub-floor") to stabilize it and then new finish floor boards on top of that.

Option 4: Staple/glue a cushioned membrane over the existing floor and glue down sheet vinyl, or simply glue down a thick-cushioned vinyl sheet. Using vinyl SHEET is critical, not vinyl tile or "planks" which pop up over time! The cushioned vinyl can deal with some unevenness in the existing floor, but is also pliable enough to handle some additional seasonal movement.

Option 5: Install thick cork finish flooring over the existing floor; either perpendicular "boards" or continuous sheet, but not parquet or tiles which will pop. The cork is springy enough to deal with some unevenness in the existing floor and is still pliable enough to handle some additional seasonal movement.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

you can level the floor by ripping down some 2x3's at an angle to the floor, screw them down to the existing subfloor, then screw a new plywood subfloor down that would be level. Once the new subfloor is level, then you can put down whatever coverings you want on the floor. 

If you hold a long level down on the floor heading in the direction of the decline, then lift the level up until it is level, then you can measure how much your house is off with a ruler. Once you know how much it is off, then you can rip down the studs at an angle and level the base for the new subfloor. It take a lot of time.

My dad's house is sinking, and out of curiousity I measured how far it has sank with a level and measuring tape. His house has sunk two inches.


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## Our Little Farm (Apr 26, 2010)

Love the cork idea.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I, too, am a little confused as to what you already have and are attempting to modify. All I really know is that your floor is not level, that you have a crawn space under the flooring and your studs sit into a clay that permits the house to sink a little every so often.

I like what CB suggested, i.e. leveling your floor first before deciding what type of flooring you want. (Of course, you would need to do this every so many years if you insist on maintaining a level floor as I see no way in stopping the house from sinking into the clay.)


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

I currently live in a cabin we built on heavy clay soil that we built on jacks because we knew it was subject to seasonal heaves and shifts. I can sympathize with the OP - your soil and foundation is what it is. I also lived in a very old house in the swamp Down South that didn't have a subfloor, and walking around in that place was an adventure (remember the "moon rooms" at amusement parks?!)

I think the OP is more concerned with the hazards of a few boards popping or cupping out of level with the rest of the floor... not that the whole floor and house is off kilter. A few boards sticking up even a tiny bit can cause some serious injuries, as my permanently deformed toenail can attest! The key in that situation it to stabilize the floor as a unit so that it stays level with itself, not necessarily level with the horizon. If you build and reinforce the assembly correctly, your house can bop and jig all it likes, but the floor assembly remains flat.


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