floor unstable issue

[thomasmessi]

Hi,

newbie in the floor section. I want to ask a question about my floor issue. It has been a little bit over a year since I install the new laminated floor. And since then I found at some area the floor is creating some sound when step on, meaning it seems to have some gap underneath or the underfloor is not flat so if you step on some area other area coming up a little bit. It also creates that unsupporting feeling to your feet. bit hollow maybe, not sure? It doesn't bother my wife, but it actually bothers me a lot, is this very common? and what exactly the issue is I am still not that clear? thanks for any replies.

 

[JR 42]

It is common, and it's caused by an out- of- flat surface under your flooring. If you read the specs on any type of floating floor they all say your subfloor needs to be flat and level to within about 3/16" over 10'. It scales with length, too, so 3/16" out over 1' next to 9' dead flat doesn't work. Level is a lot less important than flat.

The fix is to pull up the floor and flatten out whatever's under it, either by building up the low spots or grinding down the high spots.

 

[thomasmessi]

Thanks, what material should be used to building up? just one layer of underlayment? I feel it's very hard to make the entire room very even just use underlayment, so want to know any tricks do the job.

It is common, and it's caused by an out- of- flat surface under your flooring. If you read the specs on any type of floating floor they all say your subfloor needs to be flat and level to within about 3/16" over 10'. It scales with length, too, so 3/16" out over 1' next to 9' dead flat doesn't work. Level is a lot less important than flat.

The fix is to pull up the floor and flatten out whatever's under it, either by building up the low spots or grinding down the high spots.

 

[tre873]

I used shingles to level the floor under the laminated floor in our old house.

 

[fasteddie]

There is a product called Dash Patch or generically "floor leveler", a fast drying plaster like material that is used to level dips in a floor. It is commonly used under vinyl sheet or vinyl tile. Also, installing a padding under the laminate would minimize your problem.

 

[thomasmessi]

There is a product called Dash Patch or generically "floor leveler", a fast drying plaster like material that is used to level dips in a floor. It is commonly used under vinyl sheet or vinyl tile. Also, installing a padding under the laminate would minimize your problem.

Is it bad keeping open up floor to do this kind of fixing, I have the feeling maybe not able to fix it in one shot..

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[snickers muncher]

Is the laminate flooring flat? Is it possible that the laminate is bowing upward in certain spots because of expansion? It's very important to leave the gap around the edge for expansion.

 

[JR 42]

Thanks, what material should be used to building up? just one layer of underlayment? I feel it's very hard to make the entire room very even just use underlayment, so want to know any tricks do the job.

Yes, it would be difficult to solve the problem with new underlayment, you'd need to shim each sheet as you install it to end up with a flat plane. You can fill the low areas with anything from layers of kraft paper to fancy engineered floor patch, you just need to use something that won't compress too much and will stay put.

snickers muncher makes a good point- I assumed your floor wasn't tenting, but you should make sure - the two quirks to every floating floor are 1, very flat substrate, and 2, expansion gap all around the entire perimeter. Without adequate gap, the floor can lift and buckle.