What do you put under wood flooring?

Simply put, underlayment is a layer of material between your subfloor and your floor. While some flooring comes with the underlayment attached, others will require you to install a separate underlayment. Most of the time, underlayment consists of rubber, cork, foam, or felt.
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What should you put under hardwood flooring?

Red Rosin Paper or Builder's Felt

Paper or felt are two materials that are traditionally installed between hardwood flooring and the subfloor. These materials help minimize squeaking that may occur between the bottom of the floorboards and the top of the subfloor.
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Do I need underlayment for hardwood floors?

While not all flooring materials require an underlay during installation, hardwood floors are one of the materials that greatly benefits from a solid foundation. Typically, an underlay is a layer of material installed between the subfloor and your new hardwood floor.
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Do I need underlayment and subfloor?

If you're installing laminate or engineered flooring that snaps together and floats over the subfloor without nails, you need underlayment even more. Besides all the other benefits, underlay helps support a floating floor. Without this support, the boards can buckle when you walk on them, and the seams may separate.
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Does hardwood flooring need a vapor barrier?

Do I need a vapor barrier for hardwood floors?" The answer is YES! Moisture can destroy hardwood flooring. It causes cupping, warping, and even mildew if not treated. You must install a moisture barrier to protect your flooring from water wicking up from below.
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How to Install Laminate Flooring for beginners



What goes under a subfloor?

Subfloor – the structurally sound layer, usually plywood. Underlayment – this is used to smooth out the subfloor with a thin layer of plywood, cement fiberboard or cement board providing a flat level surface. Finished floor – your decorative top layer flooring such as hardwood, tile or laminate.
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What is the best subfloor material?

Plywood. Plywood is considered the most popular material used for subflooring, it has been used since the 1950s and remains one of the top choices for contractors. Standard plywood works perfectly fine as a subflooring material, but the best option is ¾” tongue-and-groove plywood subflooring.
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What is the difference between underlayment and subfloor?

Basically, subfloors are a structural part of your home that provide strength and rigidity to your home's flooring. Underlays, on the other hand, protect your floor covering from moisture, help soundproof your floor, and offer cushioning and comfort underfoot. You can think of your floor like a sandwich cookie.
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What do you use for underlayment?

Plywood, hardboard, and cement board are common choices, but sometimes the underlayment is simply a thin foam padding. 1. Subfloor: This layer of OSB or plywood is part of the home's construction and will already be in place when the underlayment and floor covering is installed.
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What do you put under plywood subfloor?

Plywood is only one type of underlayment. Other common types include cementboard or tile backer (used under ceramic or stone tile), foam underlayment (used under laminate and engineered wood "floating" floors), and rosin paper (used under solid hardwood flooring).
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Can I put plywood over subfloor?

Underlayment can also help protect the finished flooring from moisture, mold, and mildew. Plywood is a great underlayment to install over a subfloor. It is strong and durable and often very smooth without a lot of imperfections or knots.
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What size plywood is best for subfloor?

The recommended thickness of the plywood subfloor is governed by the spacing of the joists. Some experts suggest that 15/32-inch plywood should be standard if the underlying floor joists are spaced 16 inches apart or less, but slightly thicker 3/4-inch plywood should be used for joists spaced further apart.
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How thick should my subfloor be?

The minimum thickness of plywood for subflooring is about 5/8 inch. Since it does not hold fasteners as well as plywood, OSB must be a little thicker, or at least 23/32 inch. There are several factors that determine what subfloor thickness is optimal for added benefits like insulation.
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Can I use cement board as subfloor?

No, Hardie cement board is not meant to be structural, and it will not work in place of a subfloor. The board is very strong in compression and very stable so that the tiles applied to it do not crack, but it has very little shear strength.
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Is it better to use OSB or plywood for subfloor?

OSB has a lower resale value than plywood due to its lower strength. For this reason, few homeowners prefer OSB in their homes. Apart from costs, plywood is superior in all the other areas, such as the strength of the structure. For this reason, it's a superior material for use on the subfloor.
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Which is better plywood or OSB?

OSB offers more consistent quality than plywood because there are no core voids and OSB will not delaminate. Plywood is also more likely to delaminate when exposed to moisture than OSB. No matter your inclination, OSB has become the building material of choice for North American professionals.
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How many layers of plywood do you need for a subfloor?

If you are using plywood for your subfloor, you should use a minimum of one layer that is between ¾” and ⅝” thick. This thickness will suffice for most floors; however, codes will vary and a second layer is a good idea if your floor covering is going to be a heavy material like ceramic tiles or natural stone.
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Can you put real wood floors on concrete?

If you have a concrete slab main floor or basement, you may be wondering if it's possible to install hardwood flooring directly on top of the concrete. The short answer is yes.
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Do I need underlayment and moisture barrier?

No matter which underlayment you choose, if you are installing on a moisture prone subfloor or concrete subfloor, you really need a moisture barrier underlayment. Protect your laminate flooring from moisture for years to come by installing moisture barrier underlayment.
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How do I protect my subfloor from moisture?

What steps should you take to prevent subfloor moisture?
  1. Take proper measurements before, during, and after installation of the moisture level. ...
  2. Add a flooring underlayment with a vapor retarder barrier, also known as a moisture barrier. ...
  3. Make sure that your contractors don't penetrate the vapor barrier.
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