We’re having problems with uneven flooring. It is gypcrete(infloor heating), with engineered wood on top. We have multilpe areas that aren’t level. It’s new construction- we’ve yet to make the final payment. Generally, the floors raise up along the sides of the room and are uneven or sink towards the middle. The floating floor accounts for some, but not this much.
Our builder is doing what he can to level things out, but said today that putting gypcrete on flooring is the same as putting furniture on the floor- you can expect things to adjust to the weight and cause the unevenness.
What do you think? I’ve never experienced this before, so don’t know if I buy it.
What gives with gypcrete? If I’d known how uneven the floors would be, we would’ve tried a dry system or skipped it.
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not installed correctly..
installer let the gyp seek it's own level, failed to tool it flat and suspect the mix was too dry and the rim set up some before the field was poured which makes me think there was insufficient gyp applied too..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
how much of a swale?
do you want it fixed?
do you want to make suggestions to the builder on how to fix it or take it away from him and do it yurself...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I'll back up what IMERC said. This doesn't sound like it's the result of the gyp itself. Our 2000 sf of gyp lies flat and smooth. Tiled and glued t&g bamboo without any need to fill or shave. First on my list for seeking an explanation would be the gyp installer. As IMERC suggests, whatever you do next depends on what you hope to accomplish.
maybe try self-levelling cement which can be mixed with sand to get more from the bag.
It sounds like you got one very big problem. Along with one medium size problem ?
The first problem is your GC. The second one is the gypcrete installer.
Your GC should have made sure the gypcrete installer did his job and got it flat before he left.
What else did the GC not see and or let slide and or hid from you ?
Now you need to make sure the GC and the gypcrete installer don’t pull a fast one on how they are going to fix the problem.
Make them PROVE the method they are going to using to you will work properly.
fred..
could ya use a larger font...Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
He probably used that small font to help the dial-up users.
Now that's funny, right there!Happy Independence Day, fellow Americans.Bill
GROAN
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I like it....Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
You do have a pickle there. Quite a pickle.
Gypcrete, while lighter than concrete, is still quite heavy (1-1/2" of gypcrete adds 15 lbs. of dead weight per square foot http://www.maxxon.com/product_detail.asp?ID=2 ) and floor joists have to be sized for the additional load. Based on your description of the center of the room sinking the most, some of your problem may be deflection in the framing.
Any carpenter can measure the spans and check a load chart for the sizing of the floor joists, but not all charts list dead loads that heavy so they make an educated guess or don't build for the additional weight. Having said that, most spans would probably not require much more than going up a single size in the depth of the joist.
Secondarily, gypcrete is known to have significant shrinkage, which is usually seen near wood sleepers where 1-1/2" of gypcrete can easily shrink 1/8" vertically, leaving gaps if wood flooring is used.
Finally, the application of the gypcrete may have simply been flawed and it's thinner in the center of the room, which isn't all that noticeable at first, but once the flooring is in, it's clearly visable.
Other oddball factors could come into play, such as installing the floor joists with the crowns down instead of up, failure to add a planned for support in the center of the floor, and lighting conditions that amplify defects.
A shinny new floor, especially if it can be seen from a distance, visually amplifies any subfloor defects. Likewise, lighting low to the floor, as from low windows or glass doors makes normal tolerances seem like bad work. Morning or evening sun can take this concept one knotch further and anything, including surface dust, will show up well.
A trick of the flooring industry is to convince you to live with the problem for a few months to let the floor "settle" or "adjust" or some such nonesense. The real reason is to let the client forget about it, and let normal wear and tear take some of the shine off the floor.
Over time you will probably not notice the defect in the floor, so if it helps you sleep better, simply rationalize it as human nature to focus on the dip today, but be oblivious to it in a few weeks.
As a client I would want a third party to take a look at the situation to determine if it's cosmetic or a major structural problem. Around here there is an ex-engineer who now solely does home inspections and consults clients with such things and provides very good information for such problems.
As a contractor, if it is simply minor cosmetic flaws amplified by lighting, I'd suggest that we live with it for a month. Over the next month I'd be spending extra time completing some of the "visual impact" projects that help to take your attention away from the floor. Behind the scene, I'd have a heart-to-heart talk with the carpenter who installed the floor over the uneven base, the gypcrete installer as well as the other carps whos work had a hand in the problem.
Everything has a proper fix, unfortunately gypecrete unevenness is hard to fix if the floor is already down. Likewise, framing problems are complicated, especially if the area under the floor is already finished.
If it's cosmetic, perhaps the only reasonable fix is a partial refund for the floor.
Yep, it's a pickel.
Good luck
guess i'm an A-HOLE but floor down or not... i don't want a discount i want it like it should be... i don't even care why it's like it is... i just want it right... really don't need to talk about it further...
now thats if i paid someone who is a professional or a GC who hires a professional.... and i consider anyone a professional if thats what they do with no instruction from me on how to do something... once i start tell'n someone how i want something done the monkey is on me... it's my baby...
with a firm voice... I'd ask the contractor.... "How long of a delay can i expect while you fit the floor?"
at this point he already knows everything thats been mentioned on here and chances are knows the answers.... and is holding his breath hope'n this too will pass... I see this as dishonest on his part and should factor into whatever it is you now do...
p
This is kindof a sidebar, and might be a good one for tips and techniques;I've been experimenting with levelers for nail-down flooring and have been very happy with the results I'm getting from mixing a "self-leveler" with economy grade latex paint. The problem was creating a nail-through substrate. Leveler by itself was too brittle, shims too inconsistent. The addition of the latex paint creates a soft binder which holds the leveler together, withstanding pop and chipping while you nail.Put your name on it and market it, just cut me a check for half....-dukeDCG Your Neighbor's Contractor LLC"A wrongdoer is often a man who has left something undone, not always one who has done something."--Marcus Aurelius