Sturdi Floor Underlayment


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Old 04-04-11, 08:39 AM
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Sturdi Floor Underlayment

Okay -- here's the situation: We're replacing a house full of nasty carpet with nice and wonderful 3/4" solid hardwood floors. It looks like there's a mixture of 19/32" Sturdi Floor T&G plywood, miscellaneous plywood, and particle board underlayments underneath the carpet. There's also some tile that will be ripped out, partially replaced by hardwood floor, and partially re-tiled. Oh, my joists are 16 inches oc.

I don't know how thick the actual subfloor is. Every stamp on the bottom seems to be covered by a joist so I can't make it out. I was planning on ripping out all the particle board (obviously), the miscellaneous plywood, as well as the 19/32" Sturdi Floor plywood -- and putting in 23/32" Sturdi Floor T&G plywood everywhere.

I was reading the installation guide for the Sturdi Floor on a manufacturer website. As far as the hardwood floor is concerned, I think everything will be okay. However, I'm confused with the tile -- whether I'll be able to put tile down on the Sturdi Floor or if I'll need to put something on top of it. I'd like everything to be on the same level with a simple T-transition molding placed between the hardwood and tile.

Oh -- here's a bonus question. With tongue and groove Sturdi floor -- do you still keep a 1/8" spacing between the panels?
 
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Old 04-05-11, 03:22 AM
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For the ceramic tile, use an underlayment like cement board or schluter ditra over the sturdi floor. If you are using 3/4 hardwood flooring, youll have room to install a proper underlayment. Look at the thickness of the tile, and see how much room youll have. You can use 1/4 cement board or ditra which is only 1/8 in thickness.
 
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Old 04-10-11, 04:26 AM
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One more thing ... I was talking with a contractor friend about the underlayment situation. His thought was that since there's actually a 3/8" subfloor layer of plywood underneath the 5/8" layer of Sturdi plywood, that there should be plenty of thickness for me. (As in, no need to put down 3/4" Sturdi plywood on top of the 3/8" plywood subfloor).

Now, I know that the best thing is to have 3/4" T&G Sturdi floor ... but do you agree that that would be in that case of zero subfloor underneate -- as in the Sturdi floor attached directly to the joists? And in my case 3/8" + 5/8" is plenty and maybe better than a single layer of 3/4" Sturdi?
 
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Old 04-10-11, 12:25 PM
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Even if the floor is solid enough will there be enough thinset grip with the tiles going directly onto the Sturdi plywood? Is the surface rough enough to provide good grip. A layer of Ditra, will waterproof and provide the right surface for adhesion and eliminate any risk of tile or grout failure later.
 
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Old 04-10-11, 05:06 PM
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Originally Posted by equinox
Even if the floor is solid enough will there be enough thinset grip with the tiles going directly onto the Sturdi plywood? Is the surface rough enough to provide good grip. A layer of Ditra, will waterproof and provide the right surface for adhesion and eliminate any risk of tile or grout failure later.
I was talking about 3/4" hardwood flooring going on the sturdi plywood. I'm planning on laying down cement backerboard on top of the sturdi plywood for the portion that's going to get tiled. Make sense?
 
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Old 04-10-11, 10:35 PM
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Yes it makes sense. Some manufacturers recommend tacking and taping down a paper product on top of the plywood to help eliminate potential squeaks, but I have heard that it is also not really required. Considering that you will likely be nailing the floor every 8 inches or so you should have no problem either way.
 
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Old 04-11-11, 02:22 AM
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I hope I'm miss reading your post. If someone layed down 3/8 plywood first on top of the joist then the T & G plywood, they messed up. It will act as nothing more then a shim under the 3/4 wood.
It should have been the 3/4" then the 3/8, making sure not to have the seams line up with the 3/4" below.
You have the chane if you take the time to have both of those floors come out even by just installing the right thickness of under laymant.
The area where the tile goes is the most important, there needs to be 3/4 T X G setting in constrution adhesive on top of the floor joist, then a layer of at least 3/8 underlayment rated plywood on top of that, nailed or stapled every 4" on the outside and every 6 to 8" in the field, with seams that do not line up with the subfloor below.
T X G is made so there will be a gap without having to try and space them.
There needs to be a layer of underlayment paper or at least tar paper under that hard wood to act as vaper barrier. If not, it may cup.
 
 

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