Choose for Me: Laminate or Luxury Vinyl Flooring? The compound will break out or crumble, with the vibrations from nailing a floor down. Using an angle grinder to level a sub floor - Duration: 4:05. Fill any low spots with a cementitious leveling compound following the manufacturer's directions and allow it to dry before proceeding. Typically, the floor must be level and uniform within 3/16 inch every 10 feet. You likely need to choose a coarser grit for smoothing the spots with added materials: 16, 24 or 40. Then vacuum the floor with a wet-dry vac or sweep it with a broom. If you place one end of the level or straightedge on the benchmark high spot and slowly rotate the level around the floor, you'll discover both low and high spots. So, you really have to make this one count, because you’re at the next-to-last layer. It is good practice to sand all of the abutting seams on every job throughout the entire layout. Concrete subfloors: As with wood subfloors, grind down high spots and fill low spots with leveling compound. Step 3 Shave down the higher joist. Once the compound is dry, make another sweep with your electric sander to shave down slight differences in the height of the subfloor and even out rough patches. Before you install file flooring, follow the directions above for fixing high spots and low spots in a wood or concrete subfloor. 3. Check your wood flooring manufacturer’s recommendations and sand any high spots with a concrete grinder. Many contractors use a 6-foot level or accurate straightedge to help them locate high and low spots in a subfloor. Guides often tell you to sand it smooth–but what’s the point? A high joist is a different conundrum. Grinding Down High Spots If the subfloor is unlevel, you can fix low spots with a self-leveling product and sand or grind down high spots. Dealing with bumps and depressions in your subfloor is your last chance to smooth things out (both figuratively and literally) before laying down the finish floor. Leveling high spots in concrete or wood subfloor Wood Floor Business Magazine ... Wood Floor Sanding Wood Floor Sanding. Fixing a low joist is pretty straight forward: jack it up and sister join another joist to the original one. Got plywood or OSB subfloor that is warped or bumpy and can’t be sanded down? Always use as fine a grit as possible but as coarse a grit as needed, for any sanding job. Only use small amounts at a time to prevent quick drying before it is level. The plywood becomes the new subfloor with the hardwood floor laying on top. Camo Deck Fastening System: Easy Way to Install Cheap Decking. Dry However, we are laying 3/8″ plywood on top of this OSB, and 3/4″ hardwoods on top of that for a very high strength floor. I have seen amazingly effective (and some extremely expensive) tools for leveling and scarifying concrete that can be either purchased or rented. There is still a slight variance, but it's minimal compared with the original floor. Small variations in height probably won't be felt under hardwood, but large ones will, and they can cause laminate sheets to separate. As long as it’s level, you can forgo the sanding. Use a trowel to level the compound as much as possible while it is still wet and pliable. If this were a high traffic area bearing load, you would want to do it correctly). Use a wet-vacuum to clear up dust and debris and use a level to be sure all the low spots are gone. Wood subfloors must be dry and well secured. Sand the floor with a drum sander and 20- or 36-grit sandpaper, depending on the condition of the boards and their hardness. You’ll need to drill through the wood and into the concrete to fasten it down. In your low spots depending how low, I would use roofing felt to shim them up. What we found is that one technique is to pull up the subfloor and shave down the top of the joist. ... we checked the difference between the high and low spots just as we had in Step 1. The conventional way of removing high spots in concrete is by means of grinding/concrete planes. Depending on the situation, you can either sand down areas of the subfloor that are too high, or install shims beneath the subfloor so that the entire floor is brought up to the same level. These bumps or high spots are right on top of the floor joists - for example if I lay a level down on the floor, centered on a floor joist, the level will rock on both sides (like a see saw). level 1. High Spots: Use a sander to deal with high spots. Sand from one end of the room to the other, pushing the sander along in a straight line and reversing your direction each time you reach the opposite wall. If you have a drum sander on hand, this can level out any bumps in the subfloor, but you need to have a steady hand to control this. It really doesn’t matter how ugly a job this is–you’re going to cover it up anyway. Loading... Unsubscribe from CORVAIRWILD? 1 … With wood subfloors, your first plan of attack should always be to sand the high seams. Hardwood floors add style and a distinct look to a room. Then you have access to the bottom of the floorboards. For dips in the floor, you’ll want to use a self-leveling compound, and make sure to let it dry sufficiently before proceeding with the flooring installation. Sand the floor diagonally across the grain. Actually, if you go overboard and gouge out some of the subfloor, it’s not the end of the world. Fix the Problem Spots. Casey_jones291422. You need to get access to the bad joist(s) and replace or repair. Then either screw the thing out or pry it out and replace it. I can sand the high spots down, but just have to rent a sander since I don't have one. You'll need to know how to level a floor: Just sand any high spots and fill the low spots with leveling compound. Hey guys, About to install some laminate flooring in my living room. Sand the entire floor. So some shady contractors replaced a beam that was under the house by coming through the top. Plywood can usually span slight imperfections and waves in the concrete, but check to see each 4x8 sheet is level and the same height across the floor. Hardwood floor over sub floor with high spots I'm installing hardwood floors on top of 3/4" CDX plywood sub floor that has several high spots. Thoroughly vacuum the existing floor, and use a long floor leveler and tape measure to ensure the subfloor is level within 3/16 inch for every 10 feet. Spread it on, trowel it smooth. If there are many high spots, or if they are extremely bad, consider renting an orbital sander. If it's a glue-down project over a wooden subfloor, I have scarified the substrate with 16-grit paper on a buffer. Sometimes a joist will be bowed simply as a function of aging. Use leveling compound in areas where the dip in the old flooring or subflooring is 1/4 inch or more. I typically use 36-grit on an edger to sand the seams and high spots. The gouges can be filled in…or if small enough, the finish floor may be able to bridge them, as long as you’re installing solid wood or engineered wood flooring. High spots are mostly where the plywood boards meet. Any depression that is more than 3 or 4 inches wide is, in my opinion, too wide. Add a layer of plywood. The moisture content of a wood subfloor must not exceed 12%, while concrete moisture content must not exceed 3 lbs. If you have alot of high spots I would suggest grinding them. Instead, remove the pre-existing vinyl flooring entirely if it is not level. Be sure that the sub-floor is fastened well first. Use a straight-edge like a six foot level to find the high spots and mark them with a pencil. (Learn more about sanding abrasive quality, materials and selection: Building Modern - a Modern DIY Renovation Blog, Kitchen pantry demo, foyer door expansion, & raising a few joists, Master Bedroom: Jacking up some floor joists, Building Modern - a Modern DIY Renovation Blog. If you have a drum sander on hand, this can level out any bumps in the subfloor, but you need to have a steady hand to control this. In our situation we laid the subfloor parallel to the joists which creates a weaker subfloor. level 1. His crew puts water on the floor to find the high spots. Directions on how to flatten a plywood or OSB subfloor before installing wood flooring. As you can see by the attached photo I have a high spot at a floor joist when the wood subfloor panels come together. A grinder can be used to sand down bumps in dried compound. Sanding the subfloor can remove minor swells or high spots in the wood, but any low spots in the floor must be filled in order to level the plywood. Lowell Brakey, a Kansas concrete contractor, has developed a slick way of doing this. All high spots that don't meet a 1/4-inch-in-10-foot tolerance have to be removed. Nail or screw every 6″ along joists to avoid squeaking. Use a circular saw to remove the subfloor to expose the high joist. I know one option is to belt sand but I'm not sure if that'll work on this one. It’s not the depth of the depression that matters; it’s the width. Long Straightedge. The joist underneath the hump may appear thicker than the joist on either side of it because of moisture. You want the joist at the same height as the other ones. If your subfloor is of the solid wood variety (i.e., not plywood or OSB), you can single out a floorboard or two that are creating the bump, and which cannot be easily sanded or planed down, then you can pop them out and replace them. Wood subfloors: Sand down any high spots until they are completely level. Know Name 5,119 views. If your floor is fairly level, but not very flat, a layer of plywood can even it out … The high spots should be cut down with an electric planer, setting nails first with a quarter inch punch and hammer so the blades don't get chipped or an edger with coarse sand paper. From here, you should be able to mark out any discrepancies on the subfloor itself; giving a good indication of what alterations will be necessary. A bunch of screws and a quick sanding your subfloor should be good. Floor leveling compound is made for just such a thing. Step 2 Look at the joist. Tip: Do not try to sand down old vinyl flooring, as it may contain asbestos. ... Easy job. Is there a quick, low-cost way to do this? Can You Add Chlorine to a Pond as an Easy Way to Keep It Clear? Make a final check with the level to be sure all the high and low spots are gone. High Spots and Bumps in Subfloor If you need to bring down your subfloor, you can try either a hand plane or a power sander. For sanding high spots in the wood, you can start with 40 or 60 grit. Plane refers to the flatness of the entire surface, and any high and low spots must be remedied before installing rigid flooring. And yes the flatter the better for laminate. Belt Sanding The High Spots... CORVAIRWILD. If your low spots are a 1/4" or better you might consider redecking the subfloor and fill the low spots before you deck. I like to talk a lot about the benefits of layering and how layering can save your butt (in other words, if you mess up this layer, there will be another, covering layer atop to cover up your mess). As it dries, sand down any high spots to make them flush with the rest of the subfloor. This type of joist can receive wedges on top to bring the level up. If you need to bring down your subfloor, you can try either a hand plane or a power sander. Back to addressing the high spot. When you have depression that are three or four feet in diameter or more, it’s the joists that are the problem. If they’re not level, sand down high spots and fill low spots with an underlayment patch. While it’s probably fruitless to try to straighten out these warped joists, you can most certainly sister them and prevent them from warping any more. Most wood subfloors are constructed from plywood or particle board. Have a crawlspace or basement? In either case, the leveling process will be similar to what herein follows. However, this type of equipment can be expensive to rent and will require many passes to remove high spots. 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