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A talk with my plumber buddy about subfloor prep got me thinking
I was finishing up a glue-down vinyl job in this old house in Akron, and the plumber, Frank, was there fixing a leak. He saw me pulling up some rotted plywood and said, 'You know, you guys are like surgeons. If the bone's bad, the new joint fails.' I mean, I've always known prep is key, but the way he put it hit different. It's not just about making it flat for the new floor. It's about fixing the actual structure so the whole thing lasts. I spent an extra two hours that day sistering joists and putting down a full 3/4 inch ply underlayment instead of just patching. Makes you wonder how many callbacks are from stuff we didn't see or chose to ignore. How do you guys decide when a subfloor needs a full rebuild versus just a quick patch?
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troyjackson5mo ago
Hold up, Joel. That leveling compound trick is a time bomb. It can crack or crumble, and then your LVP clicks start to fail. I learned the hard way on a basement job where a patched low spot turned into a squeaky, shifting mess six months later. Now if it's more than a quarter inch off, I'm fixing the wood.
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joelsanchez6mo ago
Ever actually had a call back from a patched subfloor? I've slapped down plenty of leveling compound over iffy spots and the LVP went down fine. The customer's happy, the floor looks flat. If it's not spongy and the joists are solid, sometimes you're just overthinking it for a job with a tight budget.
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