A job in a 1920s bungalow where the subfloor was all shims and hope

Last fall I was pulling up old oak in a Seattle bungalow and found the wildest thing. The whole subfloor was just layers of cedar shingles and tar paper, no plywood at all. The homeowner and I just stood there staring at it for a solid five minutes. We had to stop everything and re-frame the whole floor before we could even think about laying the new material. Has anyone else opened up a floor and found something that made you just stop and laugh?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthew7031d ago

That sounds about right for some of those old houses. You gotta sister new joists right alongside the old ones to get a solid base. Pressure treated lumber is your friend for that, especially with the moisture you find. Then you can lay down a proper plywood subfloor before anything else. It's a ton of extra work but the only way to make it right.

patricia_harris691d ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? I've seen way worse and just slapped some plywood right over the mess. As long as it's not moving or soft, it's fine. People get too worked up about making everything perfect like it's a new build. It's an old house, it's held up this long.