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As part of my kitchen remodel, I’m tearing up the old floor down to the subfloor. The whole floor currently consists of 5/8″ plywood over 1×2 sleepers laid over the 1×6 subfloor. What would be the best way to lay the new flooring to make sure it’s rigid and squeak free? I know gluing and screwing is the way to go, but should I glue and screw each layer? Should I put down a middle layer of plywood instead of sleepers or is this overkill? Should the top layer be screwed all the way into the floor joists or just the subfloor? Also, since it’s over a crawlspace, a vapor barrier is important. The original is red rosin paper. Is this sufficient or is there something better? Thanks for the help.
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John, first, the crawlspace should have a vapor barrier on the floor if possible. Do not put a vapor barrier in the flooring above, use "tar paper" underneath the new hardwood (if it's hardwood).
If you are going down to the 1x6 subfloor, screw it in and lay the hardwood on top. I wonder about those sleepers though, seems odd. what is their purpose? are they tapered somewhere to correct some sagging or to bring the floor up to the level of an adjacent room?
Plywood over the top of your subfloor is fine but I don't think necessary. If you do it, I would definitely glue it .
*Thanks for the input Steve. The sleepers are run throughout the house in order to make a chase for electrical conduit. Easier and faster to lay it like that than to run it up in the attic or down into the crawlspace, I guess. But having sleepers sure makes for squeaky hardwood floors. I'm going to bring the kitchen floor up to the level of the hardwood (thus requiring two layers of material over the subfloor)and then probably go over all of it with laminate and carpeting, if that makes a difference in your opinion on the matter. Thanks again.
*John,Don't forget that the subfloor itself could be the source of squeeks. What is the joist layout? Is this an old house? If you don't want to remove the 1x6's, I'd screw the heck out of them, then glue down as thick of plywood as practical and screw that too. Glue is your friend!MD
*MD:Send lawyers, guns, and money... What's up with that:)
*John B, What type of new floor are you installing? Ceramic? Hardwood? vinyl? carpet?blue
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As part of my kitchen remodel, I'm tearing up the old floor down to the subfloor. The whole floor currently consists of 5/8" plywood over 1x2 sleepers laid over the 1x6 subfloor. What would be the best way to lay the new flooring to make sure it's rigid and squeak free? I know gluing and screwing is the way to go, but should I glue and screw each layer? Should I put down a middle layer of plywood instead of sleepers or is this overkill? Should the top layer be screwed all the way into the floor joists or just the subfloor? Also, since it's over a crawlspace, a vapor barrier is important. The original is red rosin paper. Is this sufficient or is there something better? Thanks for the help.