Leveling A Wood Subfloor For Hardwood

A subfloor is meant to be flat and level.

Leveling a wood subfloor for hardwood.

How to level a subfloor for a hardwood floor install. This article provides detailed instructions for leveling a subfloor based on our project. This article is part of our series on how to install hardwood floors. Wood floors may be installed over subfloors that are out of level such as a ramp but should still fall within floor flatness tolerances.

Uneven osb subfloor the subfloor beneath. Hardwood floor installers often use the term level when referring to subfloors when actually they are meaning the term flat. A floating floor laminate or locking hardwood shouldn t be installed over a wood subfloor that s adhered to a concrete slab. How to level a wood floor sub floor.

While preparing to lay 1100 square feet of hardwood flooring we discovered significant variation in the osb subfloor that will serve as the nailing surface for the hardwoods. A new hardwood or laminate floor needs a level subfloor to prevent problems such as cracking and splitting from occurring in the future. Leveling floors can be a diy project or left to professionals. Level floors are critical for reducing gaps between the flooring material and substrate and preventing sagging and other structural complications.

Inspect the moisture level check the moisture level of the subflooring using a moisture meter. Whether you re going on to install hardwood ceramic tile or laminate one of the most important steps of any flooring project is making sure the subfloor foundation is level. If you have very high or low spots foundation or structural problems or termite damage you may need professional help. If not your floor covering which is the solid hardwood laminate tile or other exposed flooring that goes on top of the subfloor will never be flat and level this problem can be fixed but it all depends on exactly what kind of uneven subfloor you have.