Hi all,
I was flipping through the channels the other day and I saw Tom Silva on Ask This Old House, saying that in some basement situations, he uses 30#felt over the concrete then 6 mil. poly vapor barrier then 1/2″ sheets of homasote as a subflooring flat on the poly. He didn’t mention any further plywood used as subflooring.
My question is has any one tried this? Is the homosote strong enough or dense enough to stand up to heels and funiture legs with only carpet and pading as finished floor?
If so this could be an answer to a situation I am working on.
Webby
Replies
Are you talking about Homasote or homasote.
Homasote is trademark of a company that makes the original Homasote (tm) sheathing.
But they also make a number of other specialized products.
http://www.homasote.com/f.html several flooring products.
http://www.homasote.com/id.html
Goes over ice rinks to convert for other use.
http://www.homasote.com/comfort.html
Comfort Base flooring.
Hi, thanks for the links.
I am not sure what I saw, but I suspect that it was the comfort base system. It was just referred to as homasote by the show.
Edited 11/18/2006 3:24 pm ET by webby
The bathrooms of my 1957 ranch style (with crawl space) used something like 3/8" Homasote underlayment for the vinyl in the bathrooms. Not a great idea, the fibers get pretty mushy when wet - which is pretty much inevitable as the bathroom floor ages. I had to redo one bathroom floor a couple of years ago and am about to undertake the second. Unless they have increased the water resistance of the fiber type material markedly, I would say placing it anywhere that it could get damp would be a bad idea. I am not sure what the advantage of it is. A half inch panel might give something like R-1, give some slight sound deadening, and give some cushioning under foot. I would stay away from any application of the stuff.
couple of years ago, I removd something almost exactly like that. It was the worst moldy mess I have ever worked around. The guys wore masks and gloves the whole time and still had problems with it.
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I can't think of a worse idea than homasote for basement underlayment. Last spring I helped a neighbor muck out his finished basement after it flooded (the first time it has flooded in 11 years). The homasote underlayment was saturated, weighed a ton, and we had to use flat shovels to scoop it up. Even if the basement is believed to be permanently dry (like my neighbors), there's always the chance of a water heater or pipe leaking, or condensation. Basements are holes in the ground and water flows downhill, not a question of if it will get damp, but when.
All good advice, thanks guys.
Webby
My house had homasote like stuff under most of the carpet when I bought it. I'm assuming that homasote is like the material that pegboard is made out of. I've ripped out about half of it at this point. The remaining carpet has many springy and or wavy areas where it swelled and changed shape. I would never use it.
You're thinking of Masonite. Homasote is a lighter consistency and color, almost like it's made from recylced newspaper.
Yes, it is same thing - cellulose - as newspaper and insulation
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"I was --flipping through the channels-- the other day and I saw Tom Silva......"
Uh huh.
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