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Question about subfloor under bathroom

9 years ago

My house was built in 1960. I have 2 1/4 oak wood floors.
The subfloor is planks. I have a sheet of linolium for the bathroom floor and it is the same height as the oak floors.
The oak boards are 3/4 inch thick on top of the plank subfloor. I was wondering what was used to get the linolium to the same height as the oak floors. Since plywood was not around then, did they just lay extra pine boards on top of the original subfloor to make the bathroom the same height of the other rooms in the house?

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Comments (3)

User
9 years ago
Actually, plywood was used in PT boat construction during WWll.

It was used in building construction til the raw materials necessary were depleted and chipboard was developed was a substitute---but was not widely used until after the 50's.

The builder of your house may well have used boards(technically planks are wider than the 4"-6" boards) since that was the method that was used for many years before WWll.

Machines called planers or surfacers have been used for decades to adjust the thickness of lumber. I have one in my shop that can take an 8" by 13" beam and make it 1/2" by 13" is enough passes were made. In thousands of an inch and up increments.

So, by figuring what thickness was necessary for the boards, it was relatively easy to have a saw mill or wood processor machine the correct thickness.

Today, there are several different thicknesses of plywood, OSB(Oriented Strand Board),or underlayment available at lumberyards/home improvement stores. 1/8". 3/16", 1/4", 3/8", 5/16", 1/2", 5/8", and 3/4" are all easily found. Thicker ply/OSB is available by special order.

Using ply/OSB is much less expensive, much less labor intensive, and the wood does not move like solid wood boards. So, those are actually much better.
rwiegand
9 years ago
A method for the production of plywood was patented in 1797, but plywood has been found in ancient Egypt (even 200 years ago patent examiners missed prior art). The now-standard 4x8 sheet was introduced in the 1920's, but I frequently see plywood used in organs I restore dating from the late 1800's.

There are lots of ways to build up floor height, you need to look and see how yours was done. 3/4" plywood is a good bet.
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I am aghast at the 48" center floor joists!!!!!!! 24" center floor joists are not legal---much less double that!!!!!!! If I were in your situation, I would add 2" by 6"s or 2" by 8"s between the existing joists to frame the bathroom area so you can install new a subfloor---I'd use pressure treated 3/4" plywood. Regular construction grade plywood would be fine also, but the PT would resist any future leakage better and once covered with flooring , pose no threat.(There is little threat anyway, but some folks feel differently.) Unfortunately, you will have to get into that crawl space---to install the joist hangers on the joists to either side of the one in the bathroom space, but by precutting them and having a bright light----as well as having the old flooring in the bath completely removed---you mighht be able to handle being in the space------you could go in through the bath floor opening which would allow you to set a couple of hangers and stand up---that kinda thing.
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It's not typically recommended for tile to be installed over a plywood subfloor. Especially not in a bathroom. Moisture will seep under into the plywood causing a lot of issues. Unless an exterior grade plywood was used? Or a layer of painted vapor barrier was applied? A cement based backer board would have been a better choice for your bathroom subfloor. But to answer your questions, the thin-set should raise the floor high enough to be level with the other flooring.
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Bruce in Northern Virginia
9 years ago
My 1940 vintage kitchen had linoleum that appeared to match the height of the dining room hardwood floor next to it. When we pulled up the linoleum to replace it we found pine tongue and groove flooring that was the same width and thickness as the hardwood.

Bruce

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