Hello,

My name is Mike. I've never put in a hardwood floor but my wife and I are giving it a shot. I'm about 5 grand into it, so I hope I don't regret doing it myself. So we've pulled up all the carpet, pad, particle board (what a pain), and gotten down to an old hardwood floor that is in really bad shape. So I'm ripping that up and finding these 7 inch wide planks (maybe slats) running diagonal to the joists for my subfloor. The joists are 24 inches apart. Remember I have no experience with this, so bear with me. The slats look like they are only a 1/4 inch thick with maybe some other type of wood underneath them.

So here's my question. Should I be using 1/2 inch plywood over the sub floor or should I get 3/4 inch? Maybe it doesn't matter at all, but with the joists 24 inches apart I'm just wondering if 1/2 inch will do. If I knew how to post a picture on here I would, but maybe you guys know what I'm talking about. I'm out here in Oregon if that makes a difference on the type of sub flooring they used.

Great site and have already learned a ton.

Thanks in advance.

Mike

Sounds like what they like to call car decking out there, or at least Don Bollinger refers to it that way. Hard to envision any 1/4 inch being there.

youtube.com/watch?v=LnCg2GHRBn8

sounds impossible for 1/4" subfloor with a 24OC span...

no way..I think you need to check again.

So when I look at it, I can see some wood or something underneath it....maybe it's the tongue on another piece, but I can definitely pull up the 1/4 inch stuff without moving the wood underneath it. I'm going to get a light and look closer tonight. In some places the wood is really stiff, but in other places, there is a LOT of movement. I haven't tried to screw into anything yet just to see what happens, but I might have to try it.

I watched that you tube video and the slats I have are diagonal but there are gaps about 1/8 up to 1/4 inch between the slats. The slats are 7 inches wide. Wish I could be more help, but I appreciate what you've given me so far.

Mike

OK, so after getting down and really looking at it closer I can see it is T&G. There are some spots that really move a lot when you walk on them. The boards are in good shape with nothing that looks rotten, but as I said above, there are some really big gaps and when you step in the middle of the joists, the boards sink in quite a bit.

I have no clue how to tighten things up because there slats are nailed down well on top of the joists. There are some spots that squeak when I walk over the top of the plywood. Not horrible, but there is some squeaking.

So now my questions are is there a way for me to tighten things up on the subfloor? Will using 1/2 inch plywood be good enough or will using 3/4 inch plywood make any difference?

Again, thanks in advance,

Mike