The second floor of my barn, which will be used for a weekend apartment, is warped. It's been out in the weather for 5 weeks now as we try to find someone to put on the roof. Short of sanding the subfloor, and floating it back to level, any ideas? We will be putting laminate flooring down, and I'm told it requires no more than a 1/16 inch variance in a 4 foot radius. A buddy and I were kicking around ideas and thought about using 4X8 sheets of smooth-faced Hardi panel on top of the wraped plywood. Has anyone tried that?
First I would get the roof on, and then some heat in the building - just enough to get the moisture out of the wood (plywood, OSB?). After that, make the decision (including pulling up some of the sub-floor) whether to sand (drum floor sander worked well in my son's house that had a lot of rain on the flakeboard, with swelling at the edges). Maybe most, but not all, the warp will come out with drying.
I'll be interested in learning what the panels are. If plywood, what kind and grade? Pictures to post?
Roof is going on soon, we hope. The subflooring is plywood. As far as grade, the lumber yard gave us their standard tongue & groove, 3/4" stuff. I'm told it was supposed to take 60 days of weather. Please don't ask for photos. I don't have that capability, and besides- the floor is UGLY. Thanks for the input.
I cheated and painted mine with deck paint as soon as it went down. Made it hold up to weather a lot better.
When I laid my formica flooring, they told me about the 1/16 variance, but it was in relation to ridges. In other words, a 1/16 high ridge under the laminate will cause it to eventually crack along that seam, just like vinyl. I did a combination of sanding and filling using a floor filler from the flooring aisle at Depot. Fortunately, I didn't have that much to do.
Just as a heads up, laminate is slippery, which is something they don't usually tell you when you buy it. In fact, I think the formica is more slippery than most vinyl. Just a little something to think about when you get to the top of the stairs. It will also eat the heck out of a carbide saw blade. The blade will still cut laminate when you're done, but it won't like to cut wood.
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