laminated flooring on uneven floor.
Message 1 in thread From: Owen White Subject: laminated flooring on uneven floor. Date: 2003-08-03 06:52:37 PST So I completed my workroom and originally I was sure I would be happy with a raw plywood floor. But then I finished all the walls and molding and the room looks so nice I'd like to make a better quality floor. I thought just a nice coat of epoxy paint'd do it, but no, I'm feel ambitious. The problem is that the room was built over a carport slab that had an interesting topology. The slab sloped at one edge to lead water away from a wall. I can take a more definitive measurement but I would guess the slope rises an inch over a two feet span. The slab is covered with sleepers are on 24 inch centers, and I have 3/4 inch t&g plywood over the sleepers. This arrangement took out some of the acute variance in the floor, but I used large lag screws to sock down the sleepers so they still pretty much conform to the variance of the floor. So I was wondering if I could use laminated flooring over this aluvial washout valley of a floor. I was thinking I could glue the lam down held down with sandbags to get it to conform to the floor. But I'm also guessing that since they call it "laminate" walking over it for 10 years would encourage it to de-laminate. what thoughts people, is it crazy to try putting laminated flooring over a sloping floor? Owen Message 2 in thread From: Jim Fincher Subject: Re: laminated flooring on uneven floor Date: 2003-08-03 08:14:16 PST Use a floor leveling product and eliminate the variations and it will be fine... Jim Message 3 in thread From: Napalm Heart (olsonfam*nospam*@iserv.net ) Subject: Re: laminated flooring on uneven floor. Newsgroups: alt.building.construction Date: 2003-08-03 22:40:17 PST I'm going through this situation on an upstairs floor right now. My wife tells me I'm being too picky. That may be true. I worked in a place that did machining and we were dealing with tolerances of a few thousandths of an inch. Later, I worked railroading with my father. I'd be measuring things down to 1/8" or less and taking too long. Dad would tell me, "Damn it, you're working on a boxcar, not a Swiss watch. Hit it with a sledge hammer and make it fit." Moral - Good enough is good enough. Ken "Jim Fincher" wrote in message news:Ys9Xa.667$C77.443@fe04.atl2.webusenet.com ... > Use a floor leveling product and eliminate the variations and it will be fine... > > Jim Message 4 in thread From: Rico dJour Subject: Re: laminated flooring on uneven floor. Date: 2003-08-03 14:33:41 PST Do a Google search for self leveling floor patching compound. Pretty much every home center will have such a product. You don't need the floor like a billiard table, so don't try to level the whole floor unless you want to use a ton of the stuff. R Message 5 in thread From: Owen White Subject: Re: laminated flooring on uneven floor. Date: 2003-08-03 14:44:07 PST I have an ammendment which is that the maximum variation is no more than 3/8ths of an inch. Thank you for your comments. owen Message 6 in thread From: james w lazenby Subject: Re: laminated flooring on uneven floor. Date: 2003-08-03 16:19:18 PST If you hired someone, Owen . . . . . . to installing the flooring, they would use a leveling compound . . . at least over the uneven areas but not likely the slope. You still have an unknown future awaiting, when your sleepers awaken. Jim Message 7 in thread From: Owen White Subject: Re: laminated flooring on uneven floor. Date: 2003-08-04 08:24:57 PST > You still have an unknown future awaiting, when your > sleepers awaken. Jim, LOL. I dont know if you ever saw Dune but that remark has particularly entertaining meaning for me from that movie! I have often worried about the day my sleepers decide to do a little sleep walking. The floor was sloped in this odd way, in an area that will probably see a high amount of traffic (like any area in a workshop would). Fearing their eventual somnambulism I broke out some 5 inch long, half inch diameter lag bolts and set them about every 2-3 feet in the offending areas. I also gobbed construction adhesive in relevant areas, not so much to glue the sleepers down, but to fill any gaps and reduce potentially bouncy areas. Some sloping areas will have base cabinets that will be mounted securely to the wall and not rely on floor's stability, should help. My hindsight is 20/20 message to all newbie floor builders: use sleepers set on 16 (or 12) inch centers, use 1 1/8 inch tongue and groove ply, level as much as you can, and you wont regret it. Princess (that's me) went with 24 inch centers and I'll just never know if I'll be bouncing on my 3/4 t&g 5 years from now. I shot myself in the foot for installing tile, the sleepers may some day awaken, and it just wasnt worth the savings in money. (I didnt do it for the savings, I just thought the 24 inch centers would be enough.) Silly newbie. I enjoy construction though, so maybe I'm just creating an oppurtunity to do more of it in a few years from now :-). And I'm undecided about these laminated floors anyhoo. I dont know if they make sense in a workshop (mostly a glass studio for m'wife, but I am also putting a workbench and a cnc table). I think I'm just gonna treat the floor as sacrificial, and then cover it with something when it gets ratty. Owen Message 8 in thread From: Rico dJour Subject: Re: laminated flooring on uneven floor. Date: 2003-08-04 09:38:10 PST >From: owhite@tigr.org (Owen White) > >> You still have an unknown future awaiting, when your >> sleepers awaken. > >Jim, > >LOL. I dont know if you ever saw Dune but that remark has particularly >entertaining meaning for me from that movie! Maudib. >I have often worried about the day my sleepers decide to do a little >sleep walking. The floor was sloped in this odd way, in an area that >will probably see a high amount of traffic (like any area in a >workshop would). Fearing their eventual somnambulism I broke out some >5 inch long, half inch diameter lag bolts and set them about every 2-3 >feet in the offending areas. I also gobbed construction adhesive in >relevant areas, not so much to glue the sleepers down, but to fill any >gaps and reduce potentially bouncy areas. Some sloping areas will have >base cabinets that will be mounted securely to the wall and not rely >on floor's stability, should help. > >My hindsight is 20/20 message to all newbie floor builders: use >sleepers set on 16 (or 12) inch centers, use 1 1/8 inch tongue and >groove ply, level as much as you can, and you wont regret it. Princess >(that's me) went with 24 inch centers and I'll just never know if I'll >be bouncing on my 3/4 t&g 5 years from now. I shot myself in the foot >for installing tile, the sleepers may some day awaken, and it just >wasnt worth the savings in money. (I didnt do it for the savings, I >just thought the 24 inch centers would be enough.) > >Silly newbie. I enjoy construction though, so maybe I'm just creating >an oppurtunity to do more of it in a few years from now :-). > >And I'm undecided about these laminated floors anyhoo. I dont know if >they make sense in a workshop (mostly a glass studio for m'wife, but I >am also putting a workbench and a cnc table). I think I'm just gonna >treat the floor as sacrificial, and then cover it with something when >it gets ratty. Stiffness is paramount in a floor in my opinion. I hate feeling the flex, so I never go over 16" with a 3/4" subfloor. When the floor is dipping all over the place you can scribe and cut the sleepers to fit, or use lots of shims glued in place to give you a flat and level floor. It's a lot easier to do it the first time around. R Message 9 in thread Subject: Re: laminated flooring on uneven floor. Date: 2003-08-04 13:39:07 PST > Stiffness is paramount in a floor in my opinion. I hate feeling the flex, > so I never go over 16" with a 3/4" subfloor. > > When the floor is dipping all over the place you can scribe and cut the > sleepers to fit, or use lots of shims glued in place to give you a flat and > level floor. It's a lot easier to do it the first time around. Heh, maybe someday I'll be able to make the statement: "I never go over 16" with 3/4" subfloor." but now that would require that I've built more than one. :-) Why encumber one's self with doing things properly when there is so much to learn from one's mistakes? >><><< "Many have tried and failed?" "Many have tried and _died_!". Owen