September 08, 2017, 09:43 AM
Sig209buttressing a small area of warped carpeted flooring - any suggestions?
long story short - had some water leak from the shower pan onto the carpeted master bedroom floor.
That's all been fixed 100% by a pro. but a small area - maybe 3 or 4 feet x 3 or 4 feet - now 'squeaks' a little when we walk on it - I think because it likely warped / separated a bit when wet... it is totally dry now (months later)
pretty easy to access from crawlspace... so getting to it from below is definitely do-able.
I have some ideas of how to shore it up from below... any suggestions from the group?? I don't want to pull up the carpet as it was fairly recently installed and looks good as is.
Thanks in advance-
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September 08, 2017, 11:44 AM
WoodmanIs the floor solid planking or plywood?
Is it squeaking between the wood and the joist? Conceivably a few hardwood shims driven in appropriately may mitigate that issue.
If plywood it would more likely be a combination of that plus the plywood separating from itself. Pulling up the carpet and padding is only the beginning.
Screwing the ply along the joists, possibly with flat washers as well if the screw head buries itself in damaged wood, may work. Screwing thru the ply into buttressing 2x4 / 2x6 should pull damaged plywood together.
Removing damaged plywood within the traffic pattern, or even better, the whole sheet, is the ultimate. Think homeowners insurance.
On a commercial job an air curtain merchandiser condensate pan failed and ruined 30 sq. ft. of subfloor. The hardwood was then buckled. When a professional saw it, he said (in addition to the core reason for damage being the subfloor was never sealed) no manner of screwing will pull the buckling plywood back into place; it would buckle up somewhere else. He also said the best way to repair the subfloor was to replace entire sheets at a time. In the end, he would not touch it unless the store closed for a week and the entire floor was replaced.
September 08, 2017, 12:09 PM
Elk HunterThey have, or had, special screws that can be driven through the carpet and into floor joists.
The screw is driven through a fixture which is then used to break off the upper "head" but leaving the lower "head in place which cinches the sub-floor to the joists.
We had this exact problem and the suggested solution worked very well. It is easy to do.
The hard part is finding the joists but they have instruments to do that.
Did a quick search and found this video which shows the tool and how to use it.
https://video.search.yahoo.com...8ca5605&action=clickSeptember 08, 2017, 12:30 PM
Sig209Thanks gentlemen- you have given me additional ideas!
Its more of an annoyance. We are happy to have the water issue taken care of... now trying to handle the collateral issue of the 'wood squeak'.
I just spent the last hour in the crawlspace removing some old nasty R19 which I will be replacing also.
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