Leveling A Wood Subfloor For Hardwood

Level floors are critical for reducing gaps between the flooring material and substrate and preventing sagging and other structural complications.

Leveling a wood subfloor for hardwood.

This article provides detailed instructions for leveling a subfloor based on our project. How to level a subfloor for a hardwood floor install. How to level a wood floor sub floor. A level subfloor will help your flooring last longer and keep the finish attractive.

A floating floor laminate or locking hardwood shouldn t be installed over a wood subfloor that s adhered to a concrete slab. Uneven osb subfloor the subfloor beneath. When nailing down a wood floor the subfloor should be flat to within 1 4 in 10 or 3 16 in 6. If you have very high or low spots foundation or structural problems or termite damage you may need professional help.

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. A new hardwood or laminate floor needs a level subfloor to prevent problems such as cracking and splitting from occurring in the future. A subfloor is meant to be flat and level. Hardwood floor installers often use the term level when referring to subfloors when actually they are meaning the term flat.

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. Inspect the moisture level check the moisture level of the subflooring using a moisture meter. Wood floors may be installed over subfloors that are out of level such as a ramp but should still fall within floor flatness tolerances. This article is part of our series on how to install hardwood floors.