Lynn, 3/4" solid T&G hardwood anything creates a very solid and stable construction when all mated together and properly fastened. You do have to pay attention to moisture content levels of the subfloor and the finish flooring prior to installing and maintain an acceptable relative humidity below and above the floor for it to remain stable. The spongy areas indicate that the plywood has lost integrity in those locations due to fiber fatigue and/or breakage. You might also see delamination of the plywood in those instances. If most of the plywood is still intact and stiff, then just replacing those weak sections may be all you need to do. However, if you can afford the additional height, adding a layer of 1/2 " plywood properly staggered and secured down would be the other way to go. The better the subfloor is secured, the better the finish flooring will perform. Remove loose fasteners and use acceptable construction screws or hardened spiral flooring nails to fasten the plywood. Kill all squeaks. Hope this helps.

Hey Janet - BEAUTIFUL pool. I'm glad to see it came in just right for you guys. I'm also in Cypress. Actually, our home is up closer to Tomball (2920 and Cypress Rosehill area), but my law firm is near Jones and Grant. I just had my FIRST meeting with a PB tonight, and we're excited, but COMPLETELY overwhelmed. Do you mind giving me the full name of your PB? If you had a really good experience, I'd love to speak to them and get a bid. I'd to get at least 4 or 5 bids before I pick a PB. My wife and I have an interesting situation in that we have a LOT of room in the back yard (we are on 4/5 acre lot in the forest), but we have two massive trees that we want to work around AND build an appx 800 sq foot outdoor living room/kitchen/bar. We need JUST the right PB to make our pool integrate with our house, our lot, and our forest. We really want to do this right, and it looks like your PB did a great job! (Although I'm very impressed at your design work!)

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.

moccasinlanding, I have a lot of architect friends & my hubby is a contractor...so I'm all set on the resources - it's more a matter of time I think & finding the right house that's in the right setting. We are considering building my dream home, but again it's a matter of the amount of energy I have doing it. I have certain "requirements" that I just can't seem to find altogether. I don't want to live in a development. I want a small wooded, very private lot. I'm sure it's out there & that I will find it. I would really like to live in our Finger Lakes region of NY, but of course THAT issue is commute time for hubby, especially in the winter. He's 9 yrs younger than me, so he's a lot further away from retirement than I am. I like Sarah Susanka & she has been a breath of fresh air in architecture & her philosophy. But a lot of her houses are still too big. And she has really gotten into the sustainability thing, which is fine, but I just don't see her evolving in the thread of thought that I am. I've found 100's of floorplans on houseplans.com in the 1500-1700 sq ft range that I want...none are as good as mine LOL...but I enjoy looking at floorplans & architecture & houses for sale, etc. and I could see many of those homes integrated in what I have in mind as a "community" for the lack of a better word. It's kind of a hobby extension of my interior design work I guess. With my illness & age, my interest has taken on a new dimension...beyond my own... with affordable & desirable - what I call the "New Desirable" housing for seniors as kitykat has expressed so well. We don't want to live in old people's homes or "retirement communities" as they are now. I'm in this exploration stage since I'm newly semi-retired in the last couple months, & I'm not sure how far I'll take this vision for me & others in the same situation. But I think it will be an interesting journey. And I love hearing that others are thinking like me & kitykat. We may just start a revolution LOL ...or at least an evolution. We'll see... ~Jeana