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I have a house built with OSB subfloors. SOme of the finish floors are pine and/or hardwood. All squeak mercilessly, and it seems to me that the OSB hasn’t held on to the nails whcih are supposed to hold the flooring down.
I am going to replace the hardwood and have been thinking that I’ll put a layer of 3/8 ply over the OSB, screwed through into the joists, then use glue down 3/8 hardwood (like Launstein’s). I’m hoping I can get a tight quiet floor out of the effort.
anybody have any opinions on the subject?
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I have never done what you propose, but I think you'll get "humps" in 3/8" plywood between joists if you just screw to the joists. I think you need something thicker to get it to lay flat, maybe even 3/4". You could use 3/8" if you staple the begeebers out of it, like they do for vinal maybe (staples every 3 or 4 inches in every direction). - jb
*Are you sure that the squeaking is not the subflooring itself? You might want to try to screw the subflooring to the floor joists from below, if possible, to see if this helps. You could also try screwing through the subflooring into the finished floor using screws that are about 1/4" shorter than your two combined flooring thickness. Our company has been using OSB for subflooring for a few years now. Building in the Pacific NW, our subfloors tend to get wet during framing, and as they dry out, squeaks start to occur. We always re-nail or screw the subflooring just prior to finished flooring or underlayment install. We borrowed a wide crown stapler once and it worked well too. It seems like the OSB shrinks away from the original nails as it drys. When you do remove your hardwood, refasten a section of the subfloor to see if it has come loose. Good luck. HV
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HV: What did you use the wide crown stapler for? Did you just use it to renail the OSB or did you work from underneath, just curious. I have a wide crown stapler that I like for unconventional things, always interested in what more could be done with it.
I hope everyone who loves OSB in the "plywood vs. OSB" thread reads this!
MD
*Thanks for the note. Yep, I am SURE that the subfloor IS part of the problem. That's why I'd propose to screw the stuff down to the joists with screws long enough to go through the 3/8 overlay and the 3/4 OSB into the joist. However, you can actually feel the flooring move in your bare feet, and a lot of it I cant get to from underneath to glue/screw down--it's on the second and third floors.From what I hear the house was wet well several times (coastal Virgina is a wet climate too) before it was closed in (and there are lots of rusty fasters in the subfloor) so I am probably dealing with a similar situation to what you describe.Since you use OSB as a rule, does it hold flooring nails well after it is dried out? I never thought much of OSB as a building material for anything -- it's cheap but that's all I can see good about it, BUT I might just be letting my prejudices drive me to taking more drastic measures than necessary. If 3/4 OSB will hold nails as well as plywood, I could just screw down the subfloor and use normal 3/4 strip or board floor, without glue.I've got a flock of other places that are carpeted and some pine floors I can get to from underneath. I plan to rip up the carpet (It's not much to look at)and screw the subfloor down, then recover. The pine floors I'm going to try to work at by screwing up from below and gluing/screwing blocking to the joists underneath.
*I was thnking of screwing the 3/8 down through the 3/4 OSB to the joists and nailing/stapling on 6" centers between. (This is my house and I have lots of time, so the extra fasteners won't hurt me much)All this could be avoided if anyone could assure me that I can trust OSB to hold flooring nails -- then I'd just screw down the subfloor and nail down 3/4 strip or plank floor. I don't have much experience with OSB as subfloor, thus don't trust it much, and tend to blame it for my current problems. Others I'm sure have a lot better experience base to work from.thankstom
*I have used hardwood over 3/4" osb on five houses so far. I've been warned against it by the flooring installers but reassured by the GP & LP folks. I have had no problems with any of the jobs, (two were for family and one for myself so I regularly check on these. The secret I have found with any subfloor fas been using plenty of PL Premium, Coil fed nail rather than stick (clipped heads tend to drive through more), and careful installation. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but am not really worried.
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I have a house built with OSB subfloors. SOme of the finish floors are pine and/or hardwood. All squeak mercilessly, and it seems to me that the OSB hasn't held on to the nails whcih are supposed to hold the flooring down.
I am going to replace the hardwood and have been thinking that I'll put a layer of 3/8 ply over the OSB, screwed through into the joists, then use glue down 3/8 hardwood (like Launstein's). I'm hoping I can get a tight quiet floor out of the effort.
anybody have any opinions on the subject?