"Darro" wrote in message
...
I'd appreciate informed opinions on the idea of using plywood sheeting
to stabilize the fractured concrete floor in my apartment.

My apartment has a subfloor of 5/8" plywood overlaid with 1-1/2" of
gypsum concrete (gypcrete). The gypcrete has lots of cracks which move
and rub against each other, creating annoying crunching sounds when I
walk on the floor. To eliminate the movement of the gypcrete pieces,
I'm thinking of glueing sheets of 3/8" plywood with "No More Nails" to
the floor.

I figure that the plywood will bind the gypcrete pieces, and that 3/8"
plywood will be rigid enough to help reduce shear stresses on the
glue, be flexible enough to conform to a floor that isn't perfectly
flat and be thin enough to minimize the increase in height of the
floor.

Any comments or suggestions?

Do you own the apartment? If not, I'd say the landlord would be pretty
P.O.'d at such an installation. Besides, repairs are his problem, in most
cases. If you do own the apartment, and you already have it down to bare
gypcrete, why not repair it properly? Bust out the loose parts, and have
somebody come in and refloat the floor properly this time. If it didn't
bond, they probably mixed it wrong, or the windows weren't in and it got
rained on or froze or something. Is the building wood frame, or concrete and
steel? If wood frame, there is plywood under the gypcrete firebreak, so
replacing it with new floated floor (or even thin backer board) should not
be a problem. Raising the floor is a PITA, and to be avoided.

aem sends...