Ok, I admit this is a complete rookie question, but…..
How do you keep the height of the finished floor level from one area to the next when each area has a different flooring material, e.g. tile-to-carpet-to-wood? I understand that the heights of each won’t be exactly the same, but I’m thinking by the time you add the subfloor, tile backing, morter and tile you’ll end up with a much higher floor than the room with wood flooring…correct????
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Replies
If you went right over the floor with the cement board and tile you would be above it.
What the exact situation you are dealing with and we could help more. Are you going tile to wood or tile to carpet? Or one on either side of the room? Which is the flooring you are trying to remove and replace with tile? and whats under it in terms of underlayment and subfloor?
thanks for the reply!!!
actually it's new construction and most likely will be tile (hallway and kitchen) to wood (dinning room) and carpet (family room).
you either plan the subfloor so the finish floors will be even.. or you use thresholds and easements to transitionMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
If you do it before hand, would you ever need thresholds or easements? Couldn't you control it by taking the tallest flooring, which I would assume to almost always be tile and adjusting the height of the rest with varying levels or thickness of underlayment over the subfloor?
View ImageGo Jayhawks
Edited 4/2/2003 10:19:23 PM ET by CAG
theoretically.. but it may not be worth the effort or introduce something bad into the mixMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
what do you mean by bad?
View ImageGo Jayhawks
bad, as in a poor choice.. like 1/4" luan ply for instanceMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Do you think regular 1/4 in ply would be a bad choice or just luan because its crap?View ImageGo Jayhawks
luan becuz, cuzMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Thanks, I've never really come across the exact situation, and just trying to work it out in my head.View ImageGo Jayhawks
Wouldn't a good builder just rip all of the joists different heights?
Tell me thats sarcasm?View ImageGo Jayhawks
No, I don't see what's the big deal asking your framers to adjust your joists, so that your finish flooring levels are even.
Of course it would be better to have all of these details spelled out before work began, but really, how much longer would it take to do something like this?
Well I guess I see a number of issues:
First I think it would be far easier to figure out the different levels of underlayment needed and adjust accordingly vs ripping down joists at different levels.
Secondly ripping down structural members of a frame isn't something I would like see done, whether it would have much affect of not.
And thrid, As I do remodeling opposed to new construction, I like to be able to get down to an even subfloor. incase walls move, floorings change etc.
What happens if you want to add tile to your kitchen that is vinyl, and the room next floor over is wood. The wood would have a lower set of joist, and the vinyl would be higher, you couldn't add tile, unless you cut down the joist again, added more framing, etc etc.
I'm sure there are more reasons that I am to tired to think of now, anyway got to run.
Take it easy Neil
View ImageGo Jayhawks
So I suppose cutting down the flange on a tji isn't a good idea either?
You are a funny man.View ImageGo Jayhawks
Most of the time. Hey, what I said made as much sense as most of the advice I see around here these days.
This could be a good topic, it seems to stump a lot of people. Weird, they take all the facts and save them, but don't know what half to throw out. ;-)
Mike's first post nailed it, btw, but no one listens to him.
Ripping structural members might give you an inspection problem. Lumber grading rules have to do with the size and location of knots relative to the overall size of the piece, among other things. So, ripping invalidates the grade stamp. You might find an inspector who will object to ripped joists. Cross cutting, on the other hand, might make things better if you arrange to cut off the part where the bad knots are.
In my remodel, the biggest thickness problem is ceramic tile on mortar bed. For those areas, I'm nailing one by ledgers to the sides of the joists, and cutting the sub floor to drop down in between the joists, supported by the ledgers. That buys me an extra 13/16" relative to the existing diagonal plank subfloor. The rest has to be made up with theshholds and easements, as Mike said.
-- J.S.
thanks to all the replied. It sounds like the ideal way to account for the different heights is to adjust the subfloor height depending on material. Any thoughts on the min. thickness of the subfloor (not tile backing) for a tile floor?
1.25 "Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
yeah, but gud bilders r so hard to findMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I've always managed this situation with underlayments.
In the house I'm finishing now, for example, 1/2" tilebacker for 16 X 16 ceramic tile means we had to lay 3/4" doug fir plywood underlayment for 5/8" bamboo floor to match the tile. And on another floor, 3/8" plywood underlayment for the 5/8" wood floor meant 1/2" particleboard underlayment for shortnap carpet.
Choice of the underlayment should be compatible with the finish material going over it. For example, most linoleum or vinyl floors require plywood (more a mfrs recommendation for the adhesive), tile is best on a tilebacker like cement board or one of the gypsum tilebackers and carpet is just fine on particleboard, which is relatively inexpensive.
Suppliers should be able to give you the finished elevation of their installed product and the recommended substrate, leaving you to do the math.
This may be a rookie question, but one of the exact reasons for this forum. Notchman has the handle on this. Although even we supposed professionals should always plan ahead for this it doesn't always happen. In our case however, it's always because the owner makes a last minute change.<G> Control the floor heights with underlayments, if possible, and try to keep the thinest underlayment 3/8" or thicker. If you cannot, use transitions like thresholds.
Traditionally, you lower the top of the joists and then add a standard sub floor. This is most noticable in bathrooms where the floor joists were often 2" shorter.
Since you are not allowed to trim joists to height without regrading lumber. I guess the best way to do this is to add furring strips to the top of the joists and then add the subfloor. If the furring strips bring you up to the next joist size, then use that joist size.