What do I use short of jacking the floors to level my kitchen floor to install wood flooring.?

Question

I have an old house and the floor is not level, it has a dip and I would like to install wood laminate flooring.

Answer 1

try shims. figure the depth of the dip, level across from the highest point. put shims at the lowest point with plywood over the shims if there is room, then cover with the lamenant.

Answer 2

We had a 12' x 14' room that had a horseshoe pattern that was out by 3/4". I ripped 2 x 4's at an angle to create 6' long shims, so the shims were 2" (1-1/2") wide x 3/4" to feathering out to nothing x 6' long . We had removed the old carpet so all we had was the original floor sheathing. I then screwed the shims down to the floor joists and used a pour in leveling compound to fill in between the shims. Let it dry a couple days and laid laminate over the top. If you use a pour in leveler any little holes or around floor ducts you will need to seal up so the leveler does not flow through. I happen to ruin a ironing board & iron that was in our basement because it leaked through, didn't find it until the next day!!

Answer 3

We had a 12' x 14' room that had a horseshoe pattern that was out by 3/4". I ripped 2 x 4's at an angle to create 6' long shims, so the shims were 2" (1-1/2") wide x 3/4" to feathering out to nothing x 6' long . We had removed the old carpet so all we had was the original floor sheathing. I then screwed the shims down to the floor joists and used a pour in leveling compound to fill in between the shims. Let it dry a couple days and laid laminate over the top. If you use a pour in leveler any little holes or around floor ducts you will need to seal up so the leveler does not flow through. I happen to ruin a ironing board & iron that was in our basement because it leaked through, didn't find it until the next day!!

Answer 4

There are several ideas here that are good. From jacking up the floor if that's possible, it may even be the best idea, check it out, to leveling out the floor with "level-set" floor leveler. Or, a combination of both, that what I did. And, I had to use "concrete board" plus the level-set, it all worked to my advantage.

You can get shims that are four to six feet long for this also and put them under the underlayment to level a floor or, make your own.
Check out all the ideas and see what works for you.

Answer 5

if it is not that far off you can use a product called floor level it is an epoxy that is mixed like concrete but has a flex agent so it moves with the floor. it will fill voids up to 3-4 inches, follow the directions and just spread it out. it will seek its own level and you can then install underlayment. buy a laminate that is called a floating floor as it is made to actually float and makes up for in perfections.

Answer 6

Pack the low points, and plane down the high points.
Drive a nail into each end and use a string at a height the flooring will fit under and use a small piece to see how mach packing or planing needs to be done.

Answer 7

Do it right, do not fill the floor. That's halfassed. I would sister the joists from underneath to straighten out a sagging floor. You'll need a floor jack to force them in place.

Answer 8

Thin set mortar is a very good and cheap filler. You find it in the ceramic tile section of a home store

Answer 9

YOU SHOULD FILL THE FLOOR ITS FASTER AND EASIER. GET A STRAIGHT EDGE THAT GOES FROM HIGH POINT TO HIGH POINT AND FILL WITH PROPER FLOOR FILL. A SELF LEVEL FILL IS IDEAL AS IT RUNS TO THE LOW SPOT. BE SURE TO PRIME THE FLOOR. START FILL FROM LOWEST SPOT AND FILL UNTIL IT REACHES THE HIGH SPOT.

Answer 10

It really depends on how unlevel it is.

You could always use self levelling concrete