What is Recommended for Uneven Subfloor Surface?

Visiting houses in Singapore is very exciting. You will always see something different, unique and interesting at other people’s house due to their interior design, furniture, various decorations and a variety of floorings. This is the way how people exhibit their creativity and the house interior will reveal more than that, it will reveal their character, attributes, likes and dislikes. However, there may be times where some parts of the house which may seem wrong or perhaps may not even fit which may not be due to the homeowner, but due to external circumstance. One classic example is uneven subfloor surfaces.

Subfloor is the similar to the cornerstone of a house, which is that it is the building block beneath the layer of finishing surface on the floor. The finishing surface requires something to lie upon and subfloor does that job. Uneven subflooring is usually not the fault of the house owners not taking care of it, but rather due to external factors beyond their control. Such as the construction builders did not do a good job of laying the subflooring, or due to shifts on the earth surfaces for the houses on the ground floors, and even due to termite infestations. 

Subfloors can be uneven in 2 common ways, it can be lopsided, whereby one side of the floor is higher compared to the other side, or pock marked, which has holes randomly through the flooring. Uneven subfloor may cause problems to the surface floor, such as damages to it and causing it to creak and buckle. Also, it may result in being a hazard for young and elderly people as they may be prone to tripping over the uneven surface. As such, so what are some recommended solutions to dealing with uneven subfloor if you have decided upon laminate flooring?

There are several methods of dealing with uneven subfloor and choose one at your own discretion which suits your flooring and type of uneven subfloor. Before doing so, it is good to survey the subflooring and determine the magnitude of the problem to determine the optimal solution for it. One way is to level the uneven subfloor till the sides are on the same level. You can do that by using a leveler, or using sandpaper to sand it. 

Another way of doing so is by filling up the holes or to fill up the extra depth of subfloor with leveling compounds or shims. Both are available at most D-I-Y stores and they are good in covering up and forming a level surface. However, do note the material of the leveling compounds as some do not work on all surfaces and materials and it is your responsibility to apply the appropriate compound. A third way of doing so is to substitute plywood as the subfloor surface. Alternatively, if you are feeling rich, you can call a contractor to redo the entire subfloor.

Uneven subflooring is a pain in the butt and it is good to identify it early and to remove it so as to prevent problems with your flooring in the future.