flooring

[mike]

hey guys an gals, glad i found this site. i own a 16/80 redman mobile home an im having alot of problems. first is the flooring, it sqecks bad but im more concerned with all the soft spots an buckling that is happening in others. i did a search an found some answers but was woundering if i would be able to lay plywood over the existing floor maybe? i know weight is a very crucial thing so it would be the thinest i could find. any advice would be great, thanks again.

[Brenda (OH)]

first you have to find the water leak sources (plumbing, roof leaks, window leaks, roof leaks that went down through the walls, drain line leaks, door leaks etc) so your repairs don't get ruined...

fix the water leaks...

remove the floor coverings, and get an idea of what size repairs you have going on....

usually, you can cut out bad areas up to the edges of the joists with a circular saw, chisel or sawsall (or me, oscillating cutting tools) the parts the saw won't reach, add 2 x4 onto the existing joist to catch the floor patch, and put in a patch.

biggest problems with floor overs, if the remaining floor material on the joists collapses, the floor is going to bounce etc...

thin material... like luann, can break and the hole is "active" and bouncing again...

look in the archive for bathroom floor/toilet flange repairs, you can see the basic processes there for replacing a floor....

doing it right is just hard work.... I often remove the ruined floor, get the measurement for the patch, and have the plywood sheet cut to the needed width, and do the final length cut at the site...

hardest part for me, is using the leveling compound to blend the new patch to the old floor...

I use allure flooring or carpet as new floor coverings, they are the most forgiving of leveling issues.... allure can go up to 1/8 inch in height, and over 1/8 inch width in gaps. Carpet...welll, if you don't stub your toe on the edges, I have found up to 1/4 in height differences, although the 1/8 inch height level is much more ideal...

Brenda (OH)

[mike]

thanks for the reply Brenda, your right it sounds like alot of work. i have a guy calling me back today about releveling this place cause it took a beating durning katrina but seems to be getting worse thanks again

[Greg]

Mike, Hi & welcome. As Brenda said, it may take a little more time & work, but do once, do it right. The other factor to remember is that moisture caused the problem to start with, it also causes mold. It is best to deal with it now rather than have to pull everything up and redo it next year.

Take a close look at the rest of the sub floor, once you get to about half of the room that is bad or looks questionable do the whole room. that way you don't have as much to deal with as far as height of old floor / new floor. Remember use PLYWOOD or at the very least OSB. Particle board is JUNK!! Greg

[mike]

ok thanks Greg, i repaired my kids bathroom with peel tile an the floor looked to be plywood. my home is a 86 model i believe. it seems like there are bad spots im most rooms, when i step in certain spots it either sqecks or feels really soft, or feels like the floor is raised. just think its out of my scope of knowledge. wounder if it would be easier to replace entire pieces of floor, im so bummed about all this i tell you. thanks again yall.

[Greg]

Perhaps you should check out mark's (site owner) book. It covers about any type of repair & upgrade you may need for your home. It's in the "Books & parts" section of the site. Greg

[Brenda (OH)]

please don't get discouraged about floor repairs.. i think it is the most common repair in older mobile homes if the home has factory installed particle board floors....floors and windows were the first two major repairs I learned to do to renovate mobile homes....

I hired someone to do a few floor repairs, saw how they did them, knew I had the correct tools, and started doing them myself.....

when the floor is open, you should be sure the repair man or yourself check to see if the underbelly is intact, or if you need to fix that and reinsulate. leaks quite often pull the insulation and underbelly material off the joists leaving a hole.

just putting a new floor over the existing floor.... it might be easier in some ways, but you would need to remove the rotten areas, put in strips on top of the joists as needed so there are no dips in the floor, be sure the existing floor is attached at all points along the walls, and be really really good at transferring measurements onto the replacement sections of flooring. (yup, I messed that up a little lol) then check from underneath as before.

The one time I did a floor over, I cut the plywood into 48 inch squares, marked where the floor joists were onto the wall and by following the nail and staples, took a guess which wall/corner was the straightest, and put the first board in. I used 3/4 inch plywood, but 1/2 plywood would probably have been good enough.

I liked the result of the floor over, very stiff, very quiet floor. But I do not know long term how it has done, since I sold the home, and the buyer had a fire in that room, and I do not know if the floor warped from the water that was used to put out the fire.

Brenda (OH)

[mike]

Perhaps you should check out mark's (site owner) book. It covers about any type of repair & upgrade you may need for your home. It's in the "Books & parts" section of the site. Greg

that book looks like the thing to have with owning a mobile home Greg.

[mike]

thanks again Brenda for the confidence boost, i just talked to a guy who i think im gonna have relevel this place, he said 750. not sure if thats about right or not. the layover i would end up doing would be the entire floor of the mobile home, all the rooms. that might be alittle to much with the weight maybe. thanks again Brenda an Greg for the replys.