Subfloor

lowell5slide

I have alittle know how with flooring. I have a question. I have a concrete slab and II am getting 3/4 nail down oak installed. Already strip it down. I was wondering about the sub floor. Is the process as flollows:

Install plastic vapor barrier
Install 3/4 subfloor and I have to install with 22 caliber (hilti gun)
Install felt I guess staple on wood
cut door jams 1 1/2 for sub floor and flooring

Any feed back would be great Thanks for the information Also do I need to remove lower cabinets and reistall so My appliences arent unlevel with my counter tops

lowell5slide

Hey guys I see ive gotton 23 views but no feedback just wondering if I posted wrong lol Help me out if you can

Builtbybeck

Hello,
I'm not a flooring specialist but have some general knowledge. Maybe I can help some and others will join in. Normally if you want hardwood floor over concrete you nail treated 2x4's flat to the concrete on 12 or 16" centers and around the perimeter of the room. The hardwood nails directly to these 2x4's, called sleepers. I don't think 3/4" plywood would give your flooring nails enough to hold to, and you might have some issues with nails going through and hitting the concrete. Also I wouldn't want untreated plywood against concrete even with a vapor barier. Treated ply is very suspect to warp and pull out nails as it dries. You would have to remove all cabinetry and re-install at the corect height after the floor instalation, and to really make the instalation look correct remove the door units modify the framing (move the header up) and reinstall the doors. there also isues where the floor transitions from room to room since your new hardwood sytem will be 2-1/4" tall. In places Ive installed or seen hardwood over cocrete it didn't stop in one room it covered the entire structure. I did see some hardwood flooring being torn out once that was secured with clips to metal tracks nailed over concrete. (no nails in the hardwood at all) You might do some research and find out about that track and clip system. Or you might consider a high quility laminate floor over a vapor barier that looks like hardwood.

__________________
Darin Beck
Beck Construction and Remodeling
Commmercial construction, renovations, and government contracts
www.BeckConstruct.com

TNGHomes

[quote=Builtbybeck;247923]
"The hardwood nails directly to these 2x4's, called sleepers. I don't think 3/4" plywood would give your flooring nails enough to hold to, and you might have some issues with nails going through and hitting the concrete."

The hardwood flooring should always be nailed every 8-10 inches, 3/4 plywood has plenty of holding strength granted its CDX or OSB. Your nails or Staples will not hit the concrete through 3/4 ply-especially if you are 2-1/4" of the ground with your sleepers.

WNYcarpenter

We always use 2x4 PT sleepers glued. I've never used a Hilti nailer, only a ramset....I'm not comfortable with the ramset so I drill and use tapcons. I think tapcons hold better, especially where there's high traffic. Recently we overlayed a garage floor with a drain....the problem was the keeping the floor flat and dealing with the slope of the slab. We had to shim quite a few places so squeaks and a spongy floor took extra effort to eliminate. We also sealed the drain to eliminated unwanted moisture.