The big giveaway is the joint pattern on the floor. If you see long floor boards with joints between boards that often line up in the same plane then you likely have a home with no subfloor.
The subfloor is the structure that lies between the floor joists of a home and the finished flooring (hardwood, LVP, etc). The subfloor creates a foundation and provides support for the finished flooring and identifying what type of subfloor you have is key before making your flooring purchase.
The subfloor is typically made of plywood or OSB, ranging from 19/32 inches to 1-1/8 inches thick. Subfloor plywood or OSB sheets typically have tongue-and-groove edges to reduce floor sagging and bounce. If the bottom-most floor is a concrete slab, its definition as a subfloor becomes more fluid.
Except for those that have concrete slabs, all houses have joists. While there are some instances where you could have less layers to your flooring, that would be the exception to the rule. In almost every instance there is the floor covering, the underlayment, the subfloor, and the floor joists.
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Linoleum's patterns and colors extend down to its jute canvas backing, while vinyl patterns are stamped over a blank vinyl sheet. If years of foot traffic have worn away the surface pattern, it is not linoleum. A small razor slice can also reveal the pattern's depth and help in identification.
What Is Subfloor? Subfloor is the solid material beneath your floor covering. It's attached to your home's floor joists and acts as a base for your finished flooring, such as carpet, hardwood, laminate or tile. Not only does it make installing new flooring easier, but it also makes your floors smooth to walk on.
Directly on top of the joists, you'll find the subfloor, which acts as the foundation for both the underlayment and surface levels of flooring. In a finished basement, the subfloor will often rest directly on the concrete slab, oftentimes with a thin moisture barrier between the two.
Taking all these factors into account, subfloor material costs can range from as low as $2.50 per square foot for plywood to as high as $10 per square foot for Amdry or Barricade.
Underlayment is the layer of material that's installed between the subfloor and the flooring. It works as a part of your overall flooring system, which consists of the joists, subfloor, underlayment, and the flooring surface.
An uneven subfloor is most likely to be the culprit for that spongy feeling if the issue is not evenly distributed but confined to specific areas – particularly if you can rule out causes such as water damage if, for instance, the flooring is newly installed.
Plywood is considered the most popular material used for subflooring, it has been used since the 1950s and remains one of the top choices for contractors. Standard plywood works perfectly fine as a subflooring material, but the best option is ¾” tongue-and-groove plywood subflooring.
A plywood subfloor is usually the solid material beneath your floor covering of carpet, hardwood, or vinyl. It usually looks like subfloor panels of plywood but you could also have a concrete subfloor underneath your floor. Waterproofing a subfloor correctly will help prevent subfloor repairs at home.
Given the complexity of subfloor repairs, you should really stick with a carpenter for this project. But if you want to install a new subfloor or underlayment over sound floor joists, hire a local flooring contractor for this step.
Ceramic & Porcelain Tile
A major benefit of ceramic or porcelain tile floors in the basement is that you don't need an underlayment or subfloor beneath them. You can lay the tile directly over the concrete, as long as the slab is clean and level.
However, it plays a major role in supporting certain types of flooring, like hardwood floors or carpeting, which can't be attached directly to the floor joists in your home. A subfloor can last up to 30 years but does eventually need to be replaced.
Rather than nails, screws are best to use for subfloors — these fasteners are convenient, easy to remove and capable of providing torque that nails lack. Because of their structure, screws can penetrate plywood more easily and improve the connection, whereas nails can weaken the plywood.
Do walls sit on top of subfloor? Walls are built on top of a home's subfloor, so replacing the subfloor can sometimes require removing the walls.
What Determines Subfloor Thickness. The minimum thickness of plywood for subflooring is about 5/8 inch. Since it does not hold fasteners as well as plywood, OSB must be a little thicker, or at least 23/32 inch.
There are many signs that your damaged subfloor should be replaced with a new subfloor. These include squeaks and other noises, cupping or warping, cracked or popped tiles, sagging or unevenness, the smell of mold or mildew, or bubbling tile.
Underlayment is different from the subfloor in that it rests between the subfloor and the actual floor. Resting on top of the subfloor, it acts as a protective barrier and is meant to absorb any roughness or imperfections of the subfloor. Underlayments help to provide extra support to the actual floor.
To distinguish between natural wood, laminate, and vinyl flooring, observe the pattern repetition on the boards. Natural wood will have unique variations like knots and grain patterns, while laminate and vinyl will show repeated, uniform patterns due to their mass-produced printed layers.
Commercially, the material has been largely replaced by sheet vinyl flooring, although in the UK and Australia this is often still referred to as "lino".