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mwrede

What to do about subfloor before hardwood instalation?

mwrede
15 years ago

We recently bought our house (built in '92) and have taken up all the dirty carpet and padding from our upstairs and stairs. Under the carpet we found 5/8 inch particleboard on top of a 15/32" osb subfloor.

Although we carpeted the smaller bedrooms we'd like to put wood down in our hallway/master bedroom/bonus room -an area of about 880 sq feet.

(In the mean time we have been leveling areas of the floor - we have floor joists changing directions in strange places and some joists are higher and some lower than others. In our master bedroom/hallway there was a 3/4 difference - over 115 sq feet we added 3/4" CDX plywood and over the over 62 sq feet we took of the osb and put down 3/4. That was a big pain as it was stapled and glued on the floor joists. Now we have to deal with the unlevelness other end of the hallway and a small section of the hallway.)

Some people are telling us that 1/2 in osb in not adequate subfloor material. Some are saying than we can add 3/4" wood flooring and will be ok.

As far as adding material it seems like anything less than 1/2 inch plywood on top of the osb would not add structural support.

The problem with adding 1/2 inch is that we have existing 3/4 stair nosing so they'll only be 1/4 left for the floor. I have not gotten quotes to get the nosing removed but there are 12 feet of it with wood balusters in it (as well as one 3ft+ piece on the top of the steps). How much do you think that would cost?

In terms of ripping up all the osb and starting over with 3/4 plywood that would be a big undertaking (not to mention costly weÂd need about 22 sheets) given it's all glued/stapled down (also it's running under the walls and there is the issue of how to support any new plywood sheets).

What is your recommendation?

1) Do nothing- leave 15/32 osb in and add ¾ inch floor.

2) Add a layer of plywood i.e 3/8 inch and put down 3/8 inch wood flooring down (I really donÂt like the idea of 3/8 inch flooring). Or take out the stair nosing and add whatever we want  prob. ½ inch plywood and then a ½ inch floor (we donÂt want to add too much the ceiling is not too high)?

3) Rip up the rest of the osb and put down ¾ inch plywood and then go in with ½ inch flooring Âleaving the nosing in place?


The nosing is white oak and will be refinished when we refinish the steps and the downstairs hardwood. We are not necessarily looking to put in oak so there is also the question of how the nosing will look stained to match the grain/color/finish of the new floors.

As far as flooring our preference would be to either do a solid prefinished at 3/4" or an engineered somewhere between a ½ and ¾ inch with a thick wear layer. We are also trying to do an environmentally friendly remodel and thatÂs putting additional limitations on our hardwood choices and on our budget.

I know this is a lot of information. I am really confused and would be thankfull for any insight.

Thanks.

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