Weakness in my floor?

Question

My kitchen floor all of a sudden has a spot (about 3x3 feet) that is definitely weak. I've checked in the basement and the area looks sound from down below. No wetness or obvious weakness. Is there two pieces of wood involved here? Or is there just one piece between floors? Fortunately this is on the edge of the room. Can I easily pull up the linoleum (which is rolled linoleum, not sticky squares), replace the subfloor and lay the lineoleum back down? Give me a level of difficulty for this project. Thanks!

Answer 1

how old is the house? how old is the linoleum? could the weakness be caused by insects? water damage? if the floor is just flexing, you can stiffen the joists by gluing and screwing sister joists to the existing ones. you won't have to remove the old ones, or make the sister joists as long as the original joists, just beef up the half that is weak. another thing to look into is if there is a window above where the floor is weak, water could be running down inside the wall under the window. as far as peeling up the linoleum goes, older linoleum had asbestos in the backing and you do not want to peel it up if it is old. floors are built over joists by laying down a sub floor of plywood or osb board, or in older times boards. these are fastened to the joists and then the finished floorboards are installed over those. next, is the linoleum that was added. so as you can see, fixing from the bottom, if accessible, is the way to go. good luck, i hope this helps you fix the floor the easiest way.

Answer 2

i don't really see the need to pull up the linoleum, or how it could be done and replaced successfully. linoleum is put on with an adhesive, the likeliness of pulling it up and it still being good enough to put back down is very slim. you should be able to brace the floor from below if you can pinpoint the spot where it is weak. try getting a helper to assist you so someone can be upstairs to push on the week spot while you are downstairs looking for the problem. once you find it put some 2x6 2x8 or 2x10braces or whatever measurement the existing floor joists are between the floor joists under the weak spot or fix whatever other problem it might be. as was said earlier it could also be a broken floor joist, alot of times they will break at an angle and it is hard to tell where unless they are moving. if this isn't an option or doesn't work because you saying it appeared to be a double floor, which is not real common, but if so, you may need to pull up the whole room of linoleum and put in a new sub floor. hope this helps, good luck!

Answer 3

If you can get the flooring rolled back far enough to work on the floor, I say go for it
As far as the weak floor, when you pull up the Linoleum you should have a sub-floor probably have 3/4" plywood and possibly another layer of plywood on top of that,and below your plywood should be a floor joist of some sort, 2x8 or 2x10.
It's hard to say what is causing the weak spot without knowing more about what type of materials are involved and the age of the house
You won't really know what your getting in to, until to you get in to it

Answer 4

You can try rolling the lineoleum back, but chances are you will wrinkle it, so you will have to put new stuff down, b ut the good thing is that it doesnt cost that much....I noticed in some instances that when my house was built (cheaply) the subfloor seam was only about 1/4 inch or so on the joist underneath....so after 30 years of occaisional moisture, and a fat guy like me walking on it, it gave way

level of difficulty from 1-10....a 2 or 3.....but expect to replace the floor completely

Answer 5

if you can see from below then that's where you look. Have somebody stand on the floor and jump up and down while you're watching. Maybe one of the floor joists has cracked? Check where the joists rest on the foundation wall. Call in somebody with a little more knowledge. You might be able to get a home inspector to take a look for a small amount of money. If it's a big problem you may need an engineer.

Answer 6

If you can see the affected area from below, I would not start peeling up the floor above just yet. (This is a last resort.)

Take a screw driver or ice pick and poke firmly into the joists and flooring from below. If it sinks in, you may have termites. For that you should then consult with a competent professional.

If someone above can walk on the affected spot, it may reveal a crack while watching from below. If so, level the joist with a small hydraulic jack supported on a 4x4 post. Take a new joist 2x6 or 2x8 and cut to a length of say 6 feet and BOLT it to the cracked joist. (You can nail it to hold it in place while you bolt.) Then remove the jack and post.