I am currently installing 850 sq ft of hardwood floor in my house. I have
3/4 inch ply subfloors and for the most part they are very flat - except one
area. It looks like a single joist at the bottom of a stairway is about
1/4-3/8 inch higher than the rest of the floor resulting in something of a
little hill. It appears the builder (house is 10 years old) noticed this
because he sanded away probably about 1/8 of an inch already.

The hardwood boards will run perpendicular to this joist. My question is,
what affect would it be to leave it as it is and install the hardwood over
it? Is there a way to handle this - short boards or longer boards in the
area? Should I break out a belt sander and continue working away on it?

Thanks!

It looks like a single joist at the bottom of a stairway is about 1/4-3/8
inch higher than the rest of the floor resulting in something of a little
hill.

It appears that simple sanding didn't work before, so better be brave and redo
it right. Given that problem, I'd examine the subfloor, remove a substantial
part of the plywood sufficient to access the offending joist(s) and get that
joist level before replacing the plywood. Sistering the bad joist might be a
good deal especially in front of a stair, because that is the last place you'd
want a spongy step. All this might seem like a lot of work, but an old timer
would have it trimmed out in a couple of hours. Good luck.

Joe

"Steve Johnson" wrote in message
...
I am currently installing 850 sq ft of hardwood floor in my house. I
have
3/4 inch ply subfloors and for the most part they are very flat - except
one
area. It looks like a single joist at the bottom of a stairway is about
1/4-3/8 inch higher than the rest of the floor resulting in something of
a
little hill. It appears the builder (house is 10 years old) noticed this
because he sanded away probably about 1/8 of an inch already.

The hardwood boards will run perpendicular to this joist. My question
is,
what affect would it be to leave it as it is and install the hardwood over
it? Is there a way to handle this - short boards or longer boards in the
area? Should I break out a belt sander and continue working away on it?

Thanks!
If you have that area down to bare plywood already. how big a deal would it
be to pull up that piece of plywood, and fine-tune the joist with a plane?
Or failing that, instead of 3/4" (hopefully not that dark brown 'all in one'
crap that was popular for a few years), redeck the high area 2 joist bays
wide with 1/2 or 9/16, and fill the gap with floor compound?

Are you absolutely sure that joist is high? (do you have access to the
bottom of the joists to run a level or string across the bottom edges?) I
can't see it from here, but I'd be more inclined to suspect a low spot at
base of stairs, if they weren't framed in correctly. I've seen builders just
land the stringers on plywood between 2 joists, and not even bother to
install blocking. (not everyone uses the traditional lower header in a
stairwell, especially if the basement stairwell isn't directly below.)

aem sends...