Sub floor thickness in kitchen remodel (hardwood floor, tile, grout, sink)
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Hello everyone. First post here, but I already found info that has helped on other items, so I thought you may be able to help on this.
In our kitchen remodel, we have to meet up hardwood flooring with a tiled kitchen. (easy enough). We stripped out tile, cement board and a new subfloor topper from a prior remodel (not us) because it was significantly thicker (higher) where the tile met the wood and had a horrible rasied transition.
When we got to the original subfloor (5/8") it is a teeny spongy. Not rotted, not holey, moreso where the seams meet and between the joists. Still, a solid floor is a good floor.
We have 3/4 in to work with (to get everything level to the top of the hardwood.
Should we:
A: place 1/4" new floor over the existing (plus the 1/4" Hardi and 1/4" tile, plus room for mortar) OR
B: rip the original sub our totally and lay down 1/2" (plus the rest)
The only issue is that the hardwood ends before a joist. Meaning, I can't put down new sub and have the end hit a joist. It's about 4" until it would be secured. I figure I would have to put in a middle joist from underneath in order to have something to secure it to.
I can't vouch for in kitchen environment, but faced with the same situation in my upstairs bathroom, we went with 5/16" Durock over the existing 5/8" plywood, which also wasn't all that stable at the joints.
For bond strength, I prefer the mesh-cement boards (Durock, Wonderboard) over the fiber cement (Hardibacker), but such is a bigger issue on walls, not as much for flooring.
Narf- that's at least something to know. I do appreciate that info.
Did you 5/16" Durock seem to do the job upstairs? (I could read that either way: that the sub wasn't totally stable- like ours OR that it wasn't but was great when you finished.)
It's the former - the plywood squeaked, creaked, and could sink a millimeter deep, at the joints.
It's stable with the cement board. It's mortared to the plywood, and screwed down at every joist. In other words, follow the manufacturer's directions on installation, and it'll be fine.
The tile ...12x12 on a staggered brick layout. It kept it more interesting versus the standard straight layout, not to mention a more forgiving when it comes to uneven walls.
There's no substitute for a GOOD sub-floor!
Stacking thin layers will not achieve the goal no matter how much glue-n-woodscrew use.
If there is any significant deflection in the floor it will show up in the grout lines-CRACKS.
The issue is wanting to have a level transition between h'wood flooring and the tile flooring. An issue easily avoided if it were new construction.
As I stated before- start with a good sub-floor. At least 3/4" T&G, I'd recommend Advantech plywood (much more stable than regular ply). Now the interesting part, what is the size of the joist, and their clear span length? It may be possible to "shave down" the joist to gain more height.
The other scenario- add another joist between every existing joist (assuming they are 16"o/c) and start with 1/4" ply, glued and woodscrewed.
Remember, deflection will be your enemy!
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