Hardwood Floors February/March 2019

TECH TALK

with

Scott Taylor

Michael Dittmer

Jason Elquest

Lenny Hall

What was the most unique subfloor prep situation you've encountered and how did you handle it?

nails should be used with those specific joist hangers and manufactured I-joists to ensure a safe and quality installation. Within a month, he corrected all the deficiencies in the joist hangers and shimmed all of the joists up to meet the plywood to eliminate all the noises from the floor. We concluded that over the years the adhesive used to attach plywood to joists broke its bond and then the noises started to occur. JASON ELQUEST A unique subfloor issue was in a historic home in downtown Phoenix. The joist system in the house was old and in bad shape. It felt like you were walking on air when it was walked on; the whole floor moved. The original flooring was removed due to excessive damage from years of neglect. We added some additional joists and also added additional support to most of the existing joists. I say "most" because this customer had teenage daughters and he asked us if we could

MICHAEL DITTMER I received the typical “can you look at my floors because they are squeaking in a number of places?” call. I scheduled the appointment and investigated where the noises were coming from. According to the homeowner, the house was a relatively new home, built 24 years ago, and of good quality. We walked around the main public areas on the first floor, which all contained wood floors. There were no obvious indications of a problem on the surface. When checking fastening devices, they were approximately the correct amount. From below, we removed the ceiling tiles and inspected the plywood to see if it was the correct thickness and to make sure the flooring was going in the correct direction. All things seemed in order on the first inspection. A few years earlier, in the same neighborhood, we had a similar problemwhere the plywood itself delaminated due to a manufacturer’s defect; we rescrewed it from below and corrected that squeaky noise issue. Naturally, we thought that this would be the fix for this home. After rescrewing a few places we could not eliminate the squeaking/popping noises. While doing this, I noticed that the floor joists were loose in their hangers. Upon further inspection, I realized that none of the joists were shimmed tight to the plywood above, nor did the hangers have all of their screws and nails in place. We shimmed up two of the joists and placed screws and nails where they were missing. In these areas, the squeaks/popping noises disappeared immediately. I took a few photographs and sent them to an architect for evaluation. The architect was in complete dismay because the nails that were used by the original builder were not the correct size or the correct amount, which could lead to very large structural deficiencies in the home. She recommended a structural engineer to assess the repair. I contacted a qualified licensed builder in the area to inspect those with me the following week. He knew exactly which screws and

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