I've purchased the Harmonics hardwood floor system from Costco for my
master bedroom. It is the same as
http://www.quick-step.com/designs.aspx?id=31.

I've removed the carpet and I'm down to the 3/4" plywood subfloor. I
have purchased 1/2" particle board for underlayment. My question, can I
get away with not gluing the particle board and how should I lay it
down? I'm currently planning to screw it down. I was shocked to find
out how much screws cost but think this would be better than nailing (I
need to address some squeaks on the subfloor first). Would drywall
screws work? Also, I plan to lay down the particle board so that
seams don't overlap the subfloor seams. Do they have to be
perpendicular or is it OK to run them parallel as long as the seams
don't overlap.

Any other advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

John

wrote:
I've purchased the Harmonics hardwood floor system from Costco for my
master bedroom. It is the same as
http://www.quick-step.com/designs.aspx?id=31.

I've removed the carpet and I'm down to the 3/4" plywood subfloor. I
have purchased 1/2" particle board for underlayment. My question, can I
get away with not gluing the particle board and how should I lay it
down? I'm currently planning to screw it down. I was shocked to find
out how much screws cost but think this would be better than nailing (I
need to address some squeaks on the subfloor first). Would drywall
screws work? Also, I plan to lay down the particle board so that
seams don't overlap the subfloor seams. Do they have to be
perpendicular or is it OK to run them parallel as long as the seams
don't overlap.

Any particular reason you're laying a particle board underlayerment with a
laminate floor? Seems like a huge amount of extra work. Just use the plastic
underlayerment sold for this use (after fixing your squeeks and such).

Drywall screws don't have a huge amount of strength -- deck screws work a lot
better for flooring work.

I was planning to use the particle board to provide a level surface and
didn't want to mess with leveling compound. The instructions
(http://www.quick-step.com/downloads/pdf/ENG.pdf) mention the Uniclic
Underfloor System. I purchased that but it wasn't clear to me from the
instructions whether it was for leveling or not. The instructions says
"a levelling underfloor must be installed", but I didn't think the
Uniclic Underfloor system was that because it just consisted of a thin
membrane. I'll double check tonight. I also was thinking of raising
the floor to the same level as the flooring in the adjoining bath and
hallway but if I can skip the particle board I certainly can live with
it as is.

Thanks for the response.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I've purchased the Harmonics hardwood floor system from Costco for my
master bedroom. It is the same as
http://www.quick-step.com/designs.aspx?id=31.

I've removed the carpet and I'm down to the 3/4" plywood subfloor. I
have purchased 1/2" particle board for underlayment. My question, can I
get away with not gluing the particle board and how should I lay it
down? I'm currently planning to screw it down. I was shocked to find
out how much screws cost but think this would be better than nailing (I
need to address some squeaks on the subfloor first). Would drywall
screws work? Also, I plan to lay down the particle board so that
seams don't overlap the subfloor seams. Do they have to be
perpendicular or is it OK to run them parallel as long as the seams
don't overlap.

Any other advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

John


I used a 3/8" plywood underlayment attached to the kitchen subfloor with #6
X 1-1/4 inch drywall screws, they were easy to countersink too. Ceramic
tiles over that. It was 11 years ago and not one problem at all with even
one tile.

wrote:
I was planning to use the particle board to provide a level surface and
didn't want to mess with leveling compound. The instructions
(http://www.quick-step.com/downloads/pdf/ENG.pdf) mention the Uniclic
Underfloor System. I purchased that but it wasn't clear to me from the
instructions whether it was for leveling or not. The instructions says
"a levelling underfloor must be installed", but I didn't think the
Uniclic Underfloor system was that because it just consisted of a thin
membrane. I'll double check tonight. I also was thinking of raising
the floor to the same level as the flooring in the adjoining bath and
hallway but if I can skip the particle board I certainly can live with
it as is.

The underfloor membrane that uniclic sells is plenty for leveling any "normal"
subfloor. Anything over 2mm needs to be knocked down / sanded off, and larger
holes filled with leveling compound. Sweep and vacuum thoroughly, too. Pretty
much what you'd have to do before laying particleboard, anyhow -- you can't just
slap that stuff down over a torn up subfloor and expect the edges to line up.

Laminate floors don't telegraph like vinyl, and don't require quite as solid
surface as tile. Very forgiving stuff.

Anybody have recommendations on what leveling compound to use? It
seems most require a 1/2" drill to mix. Are there any good products
that are premixed and are intended to go down on plywood subflooring?
If so, have you seen them at Lowes or Home Depot? Thanks.

wrote:
Anybody have recommendations on what leveling compound to use? It
seems most require a 1/2" drill to mix. Are there any good products
that are premixed and are intended to go down on plywood subflooring?
If so, have you seen them at Lowes or Home Depot? Thanks.

I'll have to dig out the can I've used on the last couple of jobs. It was just
some premixed stuff off the shelf at Home Despot, 'tho. Hopefully someone with
a better memory than mine will chime in the meantime.

Doesn't have to be anything fancy, 'tho -- you're just trying to minimize the
amount of bridging the laminate has to do.

wrote:
Anybody have recommendations on what leveling compound to use? It
seems most require a 1/2" drill to mix. Are there any good products
that are premixed and are intended to go down on plywood subflooring?
If so, have you seen them at Lowes or Home Depot? Thanks.

OK, what I've used in the past is "Jasco Floor Patch and Level". Picked it up
at either Home Despot or Lowes. Good stuff for the usual floor divots.

I ended up purchasing SpeedFinish
(http://www.custombuildingproducts.co...eedFinish.aspx)
- a quick drying cement based floor patch. It did the trick and
allowed me to return the underlayment and screws saving me about $150
not to mention the labor. The floor went down fine. Only warning, when
they say SpeedFinish is quick drying, they mean it. You only want to
mix the amount you can work with in 10 minutes. Thanks for the replies.