How To Fix A Floor Without Underlayment

Lay down the first underlayment panel with the smooth side facing up.

How to fix a floor without underlayment.

If an engineer found no structural issues you may be able to level the floor by applying a cement based self leveling floor product such as henry level. Move the thin set around using a broom. Leave a 1 8 inch gap between the ends of the sheets. To remove tiles use a grout remover tool to score the grout and a putty knife or small pry bar and a hammer to lift tiles.

Offset the long edges of the underlayment panel by at least 2 inches from long edges of the subfloor panels below. With hardwood floors drive ring shank or cement coated flooring nails into the seams between boards. Fasten the sheet to the floor joists with 2 1 2 inch screws driven through the old subflooring and into the joists below. Offset the short edges of the underlayment by at least 2 inches from any floor joists and at least one joist space from the short edges of the subflooring.

To fix a floor covered with deep pile carpet drive a wallboard screw through the carpet and pad into the floor joist. Separate wooden bridging members to eliminate noise problems. You want just an even dusting over the floor to eliminate stickiness under the new flooring. Trim as needed and place the next sheet in the first row.

Remove the floor covering over the damaged subfloor area. If the area is large and numerous fasteners are needed you can rent a rapid load screw gun for approximately 30 a day. Once the underlayment is up you ll need to treat the floor to get rid of the stickiness of the adhesive. Use galvanized 8d nails or deck screws to fasten the new plywood to the floor framing.

The home mender dustin luby shows us how to repair that unsightly rot hole in your floor to prepare it for a new. Click the links below to see inside. Drive a screw every 6 to 8 inches along all of the joists.