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[Roger2561]

Hi all, I'm in the process of remodeling my house and of the things I'm doing is upgrading the floor in my dining room.  I want to put down the engineered click together type floor.  But the problem I have is the house is about 170 years old and nothing is straight, plumb, flat or square.  This type of floor is a floating floor, it's not nailed in place.  So, for it come out right, the old floor needs to be perfectly flat.  This one isn't, it has waves through it.  I know I need to put an underlayment of some type (most likely plywood) but I do not know the thickness that will not bow when I walk on it.  Any suggestions?  Thanks, Roger

[merrellroofing]

Anything less than 3/4 will follow the waves. And that will too if it is real bad.  I have seen self leveling quikrete used.  Other than that, other option is shimming the low spots and then using 3/4 but that could effect your transition areas.(doorways). How big is the room and what is the existing flooring?

[doo_hicky]

Another thing that you can look for is the leveling compound, which is basically a mixable thin set type of material that you pour onto the floor where you need it and it levels itself out.  Then you can put the underlayment down on top of it.  It can be a little pricey tho.

Mike

[Bull]

As long as the floor that is there now don't move when you walk on it (loose boards) I would use skimcoat or some other brand leveling compound and then 1/4 inch luan underlayment and nail it down every 5 inches.

[Roger2561]

Thanks for the ideas everyone.  I had forgotten about self leveling, great idea.  Roger   

[RSI]

How bad is the floor now? I put the cheap laminate floor in my office that has a pretty bad floor. It probably varies by 2 inches. It was kind of hard to get some of it together near the one wall where it goes up an inch in about a foot but once it was together it seems to be doing ok. It is spongy in places but hasn't been a problem yet.

[Roger2561]

How bad is the floor now? I put the cheap laminate floor in my office that has a pretty bad floor. It probably varies by 2 inches. It was kind of hard to get some of it together near the one wall where it goes up an inch in about a foot but once it was together it seems to be doing ok. It is spongy in places but hasn't been a problem yet.

RSI - You put down a cheap laminate floor, is that the samething as the click together engineered flooring?  Because the high/low areas are in a high traffic area, I want to be sure the "planks" are completely flat to minimize any chance they will crack after use.  One section of the floor drops off nearly 2 and 1/2 inches.  I'm shimming that section up to the level of the "flat" part of the existing floor.  I'll then use leveling compound to fill in the gaps. 

[RSI]

It was the $0.50 per sq ft snap together laminate flooring from Lumber Liquidators.