I recently have had to deal with a couple of really ugly situations when preparing to replace some flooring in my renovations. Being able to make smart, informed decisions when faced with an adverse situation or unexpected hiccup in a renovation is priceless. Not only will it save time and money, but it will also avoid a ton of stress.

Height Issues

Continued from Part 1

The second unexpectedly difficult job involved transforming a living room and hallway of a home from carpet to laminate for a more updated look. We knew there were a couple height issues we were going to have to deal with, but never expected what we found: two separate areas with two very different problems.

One area of uneven floor was caused by a joist transition change for a cantilever. If I can make any suggestion when building brand new, it would be to never use top mount hangers. The little bit of metal sticking above the joist, plus the head of the joist hanger nail, always seems to stick up just enough to show a noticeable hump in every floor. Figuring that this was our problem, we assembled a small section of floor to see how if it would float over this hump. Unfortunately this test showed us that we needed to pull up the floor sheeting and taper out the joists on either side of the area in order to soften the height in the floor.

string-measurement-for-uneven-subfloor

Using the Proper Floor-Leveling Compound

The second uneven area was the real nightmare! Around the top of the stairs there was a transition in the joists between hanging off a beam and sitting on a bearing wall. The original framers didn’t take enough time in the new construction stage to check the joist heights. There was a 3/4” difference in 3ʼ. All of the drywall downstairs would have been damaged to fix this height change from the bottom, so decision was made to use the proper floor-leveling compound to make this height difference disappear. 300 lbs of leveling compound later, we were confident that the laminate flooring could be properly installed.

The right professionals will be able to help you think about the best procedures for you, but always consider cost and time management.

Dustin Marsh, Alair Homes Red Deer Owner