Subflooring

13 years ago

Hi,

I also posted this in remodeling. Sorry for the double post, but it is an important issue. We are doing an extensive remodel, practically rebuilding our whole house. During the demo, I recall seeing the guys removing a lot of plywood, which I assumed would be put back. The flooring contractor was just here, and they noted that our subfloor is only 1/2" on the first floor hall. It used to be tiled, so I wonder if when they broke up the tile, they removed that layer of subfloor. The living room subfloor is 1/2 higher than the hall.

In the upstairs, there is a large area of subfloor that is 1", but then there is a large area that is down 1/2" from that level, and you can tell that there used be more wood there.

Does code call for at least 3/4"? Right now we are at only 1/2" in the area of new construction in our front hall and entire master suite, the upstairs hall, and two upstairs bathrooms. The biggest problem is that we have brand new stairs, and I believe the calculations for the risers was done without the 1/2 inch. I don't want saddles between rooms if I don't have to have them, and more importantly, I don't want only 1/2" of subfloor, especially if code is 3/4".

Does anyone know what you have to have?

Many thanks!

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Comments (2)

brickeyee
13 years ago
If the tile was on 1.2 inch plywood it would have been in pretty bad shape.

Even on 16 inch joist spacing 1/2 inch is inadequate for tile.

You may have guessed correctly that they removed a layer of plywood.

The layer directly under the tile would have been covered with thinset.

No matter what you plan to put back down, a new layer of plywood is a good idea.
Betsey Thompson
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks, Brickeye.

Here is what we have: In four bedrooms, we have what looks to be two layers of 1/2" plywood for a total of one inch. In the areas where is was removed, upstairs hall, downstairs hall, and new master suite, we have 1/2" plywood, some of which is spongy. It looks like the second layer of 1/2" plywood was removed when the demolition of our area being remodeled took place. Not all areas had tile, so i don'y know why it was removed. Where there is a full inch of plywood, the second layer looks like it was done by the previous owners of our house, and it about 10 years old.

If the old subfloor is spongy in areas, and if the contract calls for 3/4", what would be the best thing to do, replace the whole thing, or add to what is already there? I don't want to hold the contractor to something unreasonable. On the other hand, I want the wood in rooms and hallways to flow smoothly without transition moldings if that is what is specified in the contract. I also have concerns about the stability of the installed new flooring.

I looked at our contract, and it specifies 3/4" plywood at flooring, which I didn't realize until now. I hate having to bring this up to our contractor.

Sigh....
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