Squeak-Free Floors: 3 Tips for Strong Subfloors
Best practice combines good engineered joists, high-quality subflooring, and a strong subfloor adhesive.
Have you ever walked by a china cabinet and the contents rattled? Or does your house have an annoying squeak in the floor. In this video I’ll give you three tips for framing a subfloor that’s beefy & free of squeaks (and won’t be a call back issue for you builders out there)!
By the way, if you’ve not tried SmartBond glue yet I highly recommend you buy a few cans and give it a try on your next floor framing project. My carpenters have really liked it, and in my tests it’s VERY strong.
See my other post on the video test I did comparing the pull-off strength of PL400 vs SmartBond. Fun stuff!
Best,
Matt Risinger
– Risinger Homes in Austin, TX
Visit my blog at www.MattRisinger.com
Risinger Homes is a custom builder and whole house remodeling contractor that specializes in Architect driven and fine craftsmanship work. We utilize an in-house carpentry staff and the latest building science research to build dramatically more efficient, healthy and durable homes.
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There are a couple of things I'd like to mention on this video. 1st, the number ONE reason for callbacks on subfloors is squeaks, which are addressed not necessarily by the truss system or adhesive, but at the panel joints. Spacing between sheets is mandatory and stated on the panels faces. 2nd, OSB is a good product but an improperly stored lift can get a warp set that is much harder to flatten than plywood to remove. You have to use screws if you get a unit like that. Additionally, if OSB gets wet, even with the wax coating, it will feathering on the face can cause some bonding problems with overlay sheets and edge swelling is more pronouced that a 2-4-1 plywood subfloor and can telegraph through the flooring. So keep OSB dry as much as possible. By the way, plywood is not a 'generic' name for panel products anymore than [email protected] is a generic name for wallboard. I do like the PUR glue, there are some good ones on the market, at lower price points.
I had an issue with bouncing floors and searched forever. I did find this company called structure Lock that uses metal Ijoists.
Try them out structure lock.com