How To Shim A Floor For Hardwood

To shim the floor take a straightedge or a level and look for imperfections in the flatness of the floor and determine if it needs to be raised or lowered.

How to shim a floor for hardwood.

Hardwood floor installation can be slowed by an uneven subfloor. There are probably as many ways to level a floor as there are out of level floors being leveled by someone so here s matt jackson s take on making precise extra long shims. Don t pound the shims because they could lift the floorboards and cause more squeaking. This may require either sanding high spots or shimming with shingles in the low spots to build them up.

Hardwood floors add style and a distinct look to a room. In order to properly install hardwood floors the plywood subflooring must be even or level. You can solve this by shimming the subfloor. Wedge shims between the joist and subfloor and use a clawhammer to tap them into place.

Specialized hardwood floors company. Before installing hardwood floors use a straight edge to find the humps and dips in the subfloor. If we had done so the floor in this room would have been higher than the floor in the studio causing a slight step up something we were looking to avoid. Asphalt shingles are durable stable and relatively thin making them a good choice to level out small or large dips in a floor.

When you are using more than one layer of shingles stagger or stair step the shingles. Find a straight board. Creaky floors occur when the subfloor has been separated from floor joists. There is underlayment paper beneath the shims and under that is the original 130 year old pine subfloor.

If the uneven floor is due to floor joists that have warped or twisted over time or were incorrectly installed the only way to level the floor is to remove the subflooring and shim the joists. We were unable to add the traditional layer of plywood subfloor. Then using a floor leveling compound or asphalt shingles shim the dips so the floor is level. Step by step process for cutting a six foot ling shim from a 2x4.

This video is showing how our crew leveling the unbalanced subfloor in small areas in preparation to install hardwood floor. If you ve got an uneven subfloor on which you want to apply flooring you can make the floor level by using asphalt roofing shingles.