After having several professionals come out to look at the home gym floor to determine what the problem was, we all agreed that not only was there damage to the hardwood floor, but also to the subfloor. We all agreed that there was no way the floor could be so damaged, with such pronounced unevenness, without the subfloor being affected as well.
So imagine my surprise when they removed the hardwood flooring and I saw that the subfloor was actually in pretty good condition for a 76 year old house.
The subfloor was exactly what I expected. It was made up of lumber of varying widths, from 1 x 6′ to 1 x 10′, with lots of knot holes. But there was no damage at all. Nothing was warped, and not a single trace of water damage was found anywhere.
As I suspected, there was no moisture barrier of any kind in this room. That’s a real mystery to me. Why wouldn’t there be a moisture barrier between the subfloor and the hardwood floor there? I know for a fact that there was one (tar paper) between the original flooring and the subfloor in the hallway. I know for a fact that there is tar paper between the original flooring and the subfloor in the living room, entryway, and music room. So why wasn’t there tar paper here? Was the flooring in this room replaced at some point and they forgot to replace the tar paper before installing the new flooring?
There were only two small areas in the room that had any kind of moisture barrier, and that’s because I put them up. First, there was this small area at the entrance to the room. When the wall with the door was moved further into the hallway, that created a longer entrance to the room, and I had to fill in some wood flooring. Before I did that, I put down some tar paper. But that only extended about three feet into the room.
I then laid down some Tyvek paper in the closet area before laying the flooring. I didn’t use actual flooring there though. I used scrap MDF to fill in where there wasn’t flooring. But that worked well because of the moisture barrier.
I was also very curious to see what the subfloor would look like underneath that floorboard that seemed to be deteriorating over time. This floorboard was quite a mystery to me. It wasn’t termite damage. There’s no evidence of any termite damage anywhere. So what was it? Water damage? Some kind of weird fungus? I don’t know what it was, but it was causing this floorboard to turn to dust.
I forgot to take a picture before they brought all their tools and laid them out along that wall, but there was no damage to the subfloor underneath that board. I couldn’t believe it.
So after all the flooring was removed and the room cleared, I had a few minutes where I doubted the plan to remove and replace the subfloor. No, this subfloor is not the one used today, but this thing has held up for 76 years. And 76-year-old wood is completely different than today’s wood. It’s harder and stronger and overall better.
But in the end, I decided to stick with the original plan and rip out and replace the subfloor. I don’t like wasting money and I don’t like redoing things on this scale just for the sake of redoing them (this goes way beyond just painting a wall and creates a lot more waste). But my main reason for sticking with the plan is so we can have an insulated floor.
Since this room will be our forever bedroom, I want it to be well done and as cozy as possible. Because of that, I need insulation under the floor and the only way to do that is to pull up the subfloor and replace it. Our basement is too narrow to put insulation under it any other way.
And really, it would be nice to replace this wood with all the knot holes with something more solid.
Not only does this subfloor have many large knot holes, but it also has some pretty significant cracks.
Most of the cracks haven’t affected the integrity of the boards…yet. But I don’t like the idea of having these large cracks in the subfloor. This particular one runs right through the center of the room.
There is actually only one area where a crack has compromised the integrity of the board, and it happens to be right here at the entrance to the bathroom. That’s not a good thing. In fact, I can feel it giving a little when I step on it and it’s no longer flush with the board next to it.
So in the end, I decided to stick with the original plan and replace everything so that we can have a cozy, insulated floor and a more solid subfloor with no cracks or holes. I think when winter comes, I’ll be glad I decided to stick with that plan.
Addicted 2 Decorating is a space where I share my DIY and decorating experience while remodeling and decorating the 1948 home my husband Matt and I purchased in 2013. Matt has multiple sclerosis and is unable to do physical labor, so I do most of the work around the house alone. You can learn more about me here.
