Particle Board Underlayment

10 years ago

We recently purchased a home and to my dismay the laundry room / guest bathroom had particle board under the linoleum. While I believe that practice was ok at one time, and maybe even now, I can't imagine it being desirable as the stuff is not moisture friendly.

While I finally got all the particle board removed, I soon realized that I just removing what I could see, as it and the vinyl squares atop go under the cabinets. Drat.

I didn't make this video (below) for this purpose, but hopefully one can see the predicament.

I welcome any thoughts or ideas on how best to proceed...

Thanks much.

Here is a link that might be useful: Laundry Room

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Comments (4)

pkovo
10 years ago
Take this with a grain of salt, because I know very little about flooring

Could you remove the particle board back flush to the bottom of the cabinets, or even a tad further, and just lay the new plywood so it butts up flush to the edge of particle board under the cabinets?

Lay your new flooring on the plywood (tile I assume), up against the bottom of the cabinets. For good measure you could then run a bead of silicone along the edge of your new flooring at the base of the cabinet since you'll never see it under there anyway.

This may be half ass approach, because as I said I know little about flooring, but hey it's a thought.

Otherwise, pull cabinets, remove sub floor, install new flooring, then reinstall cabinets.
User
10 years ago
Any wood(plywood/etc) or composite(MDF/particle board/etc) you use will be subject to water damage.

The newer glues used in OSB(Oriented Strand Board) is much more moisture resistanThe other gotcha is the type of flooring to be used. Anything with grout will wick moisture(unless you use moisture resistant grout)---that means tile of most varities.

Solid sheet material will be the most moisture resistant.

The gotcha there is the edges. Even caulking will fail at some point.

To really get the floor to be water/moisture resistant, you would need to use a membrane, like Ditra by Schlutter. That means taking out the cabinets, adding sufficient subflooring material(plywood/OSB/etc.) and installing the membrane. But even that will not protect against a washer hose break.

The right way is to remove the cabinets, remove the rest of the flooring, do whatever you want with the floor and reinstall the cabinets.

The prudent way to feel secure is to trim off the old flooring at the base of the cabinets, add plywood or OSB to get the desired height, and finish the floor.
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uvascanyon
Original Author
10 years ago
I thank you both for your input. Much appreciated.

Getting the cabinets out without damaging them will be difficult, I feel. I say that because I am demo'ing the kitchen with these same type of cabinets. I kept a section for the garage, and it was not easy to take-out. I have some budget for new cabinets, but the long one is like 67" which is not standard. I'd need to get custom cabinets made. Not something I had planned for in the guest bathroom / laundry room... Maybe custom cabinets are not a lot more expensive. I don't know...

Also, making the cabinet removal even more of a pain is that the original galvanized plumbing from the wall still exists and the newer copper plumbing comes-up from the floor through the base of cabinet! Crazy. Turn-off the water supply, "un-sweat" the copper connections in the cabinet and in the crawl space without starting a fire, then remove the cabinet. Wow.

I'll see if I can get a quote from a cabinet maker as to what this would cost...

Thanks much.
User
10 years ago
Particle board is only suitable as an underlayment for carpet; I don't know of a flooring adhesive that provides a warranty for use on it.