Good evening. I am planning on installing hardwood flooring in my living room, which is on the 2nd story. The living room sits directly over my 2 garages. The garages are not well insulated, so the carpet floor in my living room gets pretty cold.

I live in a condo building in New Jersey that was built in 2001. My bathrooms and kitchen are done in vinyl. My 400 square foot living room is done in cheap carpeting.

When pulling back the carpeting and padding to inspect the subflooring, I noticed that I didn't see any nails, plywood, OSB, or joists.

All I saw was a white floor with a bunch of cracks and chips in it. It looked almost like drywall. It flaked and crumbled quite easily, so I chipped away at a small piece in the corner so I could see what it was.

Can anyone tell me what this is, and what purpose it serves?
Sound deadening? Heat insulation? Fire protection?



Should it be removed before installing the hardwood flooring? It certainly doesn't look like it will hold nails.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you for your time.


Jersey Joe C.

That would be Gypcrete. Not acceptable for anything but floating floors.

thank you for your reply.

It looks like the gypcrete will be very easy to remove.

I'm sure it is there for a reason. Do you think it is there for fire protection? Maybe sound deadening? Please advise.

Thank you!
JC

Both. Becareful, if your above a garage. It may have a barrier somewhere to keep exhaust fumes in check.

I spoke with the Builder, State of NJ, and Township.

It is there for both sound deadening and fire suppression, and it cannot be removed for any reason.

I realize that if I nail or glue down any hardwood flooring, it will pop right out. So my question is, can I install a layer of plywood overtop of the gypcrete, and then a layer of hardwood floor on top of this?

Thanks for your time,
Joe C.

You can install a floating plywood subfloor as described here:
https://www.nofma.org/Portals/0/Publica ... 010_04.pdf

You cannot attached the plywood subfloor to the gypcrete. You can also install a floating hardwood floor directly over the gypcrete once it has been properly prepped.
http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwo ... loater.htm