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Flooring Design Dilemma DIY

Leveling subfloor for Laminate??

Kiersten McNairy

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

Heyfolks, we are DIY'ing some wood laminate flooring and need your help. We pulled up carpet and padding so the subfloor is exposed But we still need to pull out vinyl floor from kitchen- our dilemma is there's about a 1/2 inch step up from the subfloor where carpet stopped and kitchen begins- so the whole kitchen is sitting about 1/2 inch higher than the rest of the space. Any suggestions on how we proceed?? your advice is greatly appreciated- cheers!

Comments (5)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
6 years ago
You will need to either raise the rest of the floor or install a transition strip that will help with the height difference.IMO that looks like more than 1/2 “ to me
Kiersten McNairy thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
Kiersten McNairy
Original Author
6 years ago
Thank you! You've confirmed my fear- we're going to now tile the kitchen with a transition instead of running the flooring throughout, seems like the simplest 'fix it' option for us.
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Sorry, I read a lot about how to make my subfloors flat when I was installing laminate, and I never heard anything about sand. Maybe you can seek out the HD guy who mentioned it and ask him where he heard about it? I ultimately made my wood subfloors flat by sliding a long level along the floor in both directions looking for high and low spots, then chiseling off the very high spots (such as along seams) with a wood chisel and mallet and then sanding smooth with a power sander, then I filled in the low spots with that ugly red construction paper that comes on a big roll. The red paper was annoying to work with, but it did a good job boosting up the low spots with graduating layers. I then lay a thick 6 mil cork down before my laminate planks, and my floor feels very solid and nice and doesn't squeak or creak or pop (yet!). It would have been nice, though, to just sprinkle sand in the low spots and smoothe it out like icing on a cake! But I wonder if the sand would shift under the hardwood over time and wear down spots on the subfloor?
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What does it sound like I am referring to, flat or level? I've only been dealing with a foundation person at this point--as the flooring sub has not been brought in as yet which I understand is more towards the end of the process. In any case, do have any suggestions on what to do next? As far as the kitchen flooring ut only varies by 1/2-3/4" over any one cabinet run. When cabinets are shimmed my GC plans to trim down 6" toe kicks to fill it all in. Do you think that would be noticable or acceptable? I don't really know. However, I'm concerned about the entire house as well and not just the kitchen. Prior to this we had a laminant floor and in the hallway (before we added the new piers and leveled it), you could almost bounce on the floor in the center area--perhaps because the floor was not flat against the subfloor in all places? Now, we know what the problems are I would like to address it instead of just spending $20K for a new floor and having nails pop out, etc. We've not really discussed the floor plan in any detail as yet as there are still many other issues to address first, however, I thought I'd start doing some further research on the options (including doing more foundation work if necessary which I'd like to do before they lay sheetrock).
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The added weight is distributed over a large area, so that ought to be of little concern. This following is not a professional recommendation: However, if it were my house and my job, this is what I would do... Since the laminate is a floating installation, all you need is a reasonably dense and flat panel to raise the level to where you want it. Almost anything that will lay flat will do that. Perhaps extruded polystyrene insulation panels (XPS) would work. The panels are light in weight, dense enough, won't rot and will lay flat over the existing plywood. Tape them together and you've got your flat smooth substrate. As long as your existing plywood floor is dead flat...or at a minimum flat to within the laminate manufacturer's recommended degree of flatness, then any flat panel laid down over the existing plywood will also be flat. Again, not a professional recommendation, but the (XPS) panel is what I'd consider using. You can get XPS in 1 inch thickness.
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Comments (2)
Experienced Installers can do the grind/build-up and make it work. Since this is a DIY, you may be better off treating these rooms as two separate rooms. You could change out the underlayment in the lower room with a thicker underlay. You will need a T-Mold in the door way. Good Luck
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Cara Mcclure
6 years ago
We had plywood nailed down to raise our floor in areas where it was low. It did cost a bit more but now there are no transitions throughout the house.
Kiersten McNairy thanked Cara Mcclure
PRO
Cancork Floor Inc.
6 years ago
I would suggest 1/2" cork underlay = quick floor height raise (no nails, no glue) underneath the floating laminate to get you even with the kitchen. Remember: tile will raise the kitchen floor by 1/2" once it is set....Even if you remove the vinyl, prep and then lay tile you will be raising the height even more. Just remember that.

I wonder if the kitchen floor was raised because of the height of the carpet. It is *possible the vinyl can be removed by removing the underlayment it is sitting on. It might just be 1/2" chip board. If it is chip board, tiles don't like to sit on top of that surface which means more work.

A bit of effort and hopefully that underlay + vinyl floor will come up. A floor cutter will work at the base of the cabinets. Cabinets can stay in place. No problem there. Once that step is gone, you can make all the decisions without this elephant in the room.

It is possible to get rid of this step. It is such a small amount of flooring I would hate for you to make a "whole home decision" based on 60sf of kitchen. That feels like putting the cart in front of the horse.

Before you purchase anything - see if you can remove the step/underlay with the vinyl.
Kiersten McNairy thanked Cancork Floor Inc.
Cara Mcclure
6 years ago
Not my project, but that cork underlay is a fantastic idea. My vinyl plank floors feel heavenly underfoot with the cork on the underside of the planks.

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