Hello dear forum community,
I would like to ask for your advice.
We are currently having our attic expanded (apartment building constructed in 2000, maisonette apartment with potential for extension in the attic. The ceiling between the two maisonette floors is a beam construction). The developer had already installed a 22mm (about 7/8 inch) chipboard subfloor (tongue and groove) on top of the beams for the previous owner, then a similarly thick insulating mat (looks like glass wool) on top of that, followed by another floating 22mm (about 7/8 inch) chipboard subfloor (tongue and groove, each with about a 1 cm (0.4 inch) expansion gap at the wall). I do not know whether the lower subfloor is screwed to the beams.
Now we want to install a floor and have decided on laminate (Tarkett Woodstock 832). Underneath, as impact sound insulation, we are using ewifoam Silenza 5 mm (about 3/16 inch), an XPS insulation material. The 5 mm thickness was chosen so that the floor height will align well with the top stair step later. The material is already at our house, bought from a store that also referred us to the floor fitter. When this floor fitter came to start the work, he found that the upper subfloor is quite uneven: the individual boards have warped upwards along the longitudinal edges by about 5 mm (about 3/16 inch). When walking on the edges, you can clearly feel the floor give or rock slightly at these points.
The floor fitter now tells us that he cannot install laminate on this, or if he does, he will not provide any warranty. In his opinion, the tongue-and-groove connection of the laminate will eventually break because the floor is so uneven. He says sanding is pointless because the problem is too widespread. He believes the cause of this unevenness is that the subfloor boards absorbed moisture, possibly from the paint that was applied to the wallpaper a few weeks earlier.
We sent him back for now and are quite confused and uncertain. Is the situation really as serious as he describes? Of course, we do not want a floor that rocks with every step and might tear apart. But are there better solutions than simply saying he will not take responsibility?
Would it be conceivable to screw all the upper subfloor boards to the lower ones, so that the floor is essentially “forced flat”? But then it would no longer be a floating floor. Would that cause other problems?
Or should one try to compensate for the unevenness when installing? What happens if the floor warps again afterward?
Thank you for your opinions and tips.
I would like to ask for your advice.
We are currently having our attic expanded (apartment building constructed in 2000, maisonette apartment with potential for extension in the attic. The ceiling between the two maisonette floors is a beam construction). The developer had already installed a 22mm (about 7/8 inch) chipboard subfloor (tongue and groove) on top of the beams for the previous owner, then a similarly thick insulating mat (looks like glass wool) on top of that, followed by another floating 22mm (about 7/8 inch) chipboard subfloor (tongue and groove, each with about a 1 cm (0.4 inch) expansion gap at the wall). I do not know whether the lower subfloor is screwed to the beams.
Now we want to install a floor and have decided on laminate (Tarkett Woodstock 832). Underneath, as impact sound insulation, we are using ewifoam Silenza 5 mm (about 3/16 inch), an XPS insulation material. The 5 mm thickness was chosen so that the floor height will align well with the top stair step later. The material is already at our house, bought from a store that also referred us to the floor fitter. When this floor fitter came to start the work, he found that the upper subfloor is quite uneven: the individual boards have warped upwards along the longitudinal edges by about 5 mm (about 3/16 inch). When walking on the edges, you can clearly feel the floor give or rock slightly at these points.
The floor fitter now tells us that he cannot install laminate on this, or if he does, he will not provide any warranty. In his opinion, the tongue-and-groove connection of the laminate will eventually break because the floor is so uneven. He says sanding is pointless because the problem is too widespread. He believes the cause of this unevenness is that the subfloor boards absorbed moisture, possibly from the paint that was applied to the wallpaper a few weeks earlier.
We sent him back for now and are quite confused and uncertain. Is the situation really as serious as he describes? Of course, we do not want a floor that rocks with every step and might tear apart. But are there better solutions than simply saying he will not take responsibility?
Would it be conceivable to screw all the upper subfloor boards to the lower ones, so that the floor is essentially “forced flat”? But then it would no longer be a floating floor. Would that cause other problems?
Or should one try to compensate for the unevenness when installing? What happens if the floor warps again afterward?
Thank you for your opinions and tips.
U
Urs1988-18 Mar 2016 08:36Our floor is uneven as well, so we removed the old tiles and relaid them. In some areas, the floor also flexed. We didn’t want to take any risks here, so we chose this expensive option. Anything less would have been half-hearted, and in the end, we would have lost money.