Hi all.

I've got an older house, and while attempting to replace laminate in the hallway/living room, I noticed significant sagging and flexing in the 1/4" ply.

Pulling up the ply, I found the original planks - about 1" thick, but some had worn and others had high spots, causing the floor to flex. They're laid perpendicular to the floor joists. Other than the wear, they're in pretty good shape.

My question to you is - what's going to be the easiest way to remedy these wonky boards?

The height of the rest of the floor on this level of the house is equivalent to the 1" planks + the 1/4" ply - if I were to just put thicker plywood over top, I'd need to transition the entire rest of the floor by at least a quarter inch.

Some had suggested completely tearing up the old offending boards and starting from scratch (from the floor joists up, laying plywood in the offending areas). This looks like the "proper" way to do things, but my concern is that this is the subfloor on which the walls are resting - cutting out some of these boards is going to prove difficult (if not impossible!).

I turn to you! Anyone have any ideas?

Sorry for the long winded post - and thanks for your time.

Cheers,

t

 

If you can get to the joists underneath, you may be able to sister some joints in the places where the planks are sagging or install some cross pieces for more support. Maybe you can use a belt sander on some of the high spots.

 

Very bad idea to remove the sub-floor. Nail down any offending boards the best you can, sand as Pulpo says and install new underlay, whether it is 1/4" or thicker.

Bill