Help with Floor Leveling (Home Depot, living, floors)

[siameseifyoupls]

We are in the middle of replacing the laminate in our living room/dining area. A relatively small space. Some of the subfloor needs close to an inch of leveling, and Lowes installers decided that they "don't do that", in the middle of the job. They left with our old laminate, our new stuff is stacked in boxes and we are left with the subfloor. Lowes would give us no recommendations re who could help us. My husband has called four businesses he found after doing some internet research. No one has called us back. This is Day 3. Anyone have any suggestions?

[danielbmartin]

You may need to install one or more jack posts. They come in a variety of heights.

Tiger Brand Super S Series 36 in. Jack Post-J-S-36 - The Home Depot

This might be done by a handyman or a handy homeowner.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi1su8nxgNo

.

[wheelsup]

First question is what is your subfloor? Is it wood or concrete?

[poppydog]

You can get some leveling compound and try it yourself? We put in marmoleum, but I didn't want to mess with the leveling compound so I just built up low spots with some of that spongy mat like you can put on shelves in a garage. Worked well for the marmoleum, but I don't know if it would work in the case of laminate.

If you are on NextDoor post there. I see requests for recommendations on there all the time and usually somebody comes right back and gives a good recommendation or says they can do the job.

[wheelsup]

Originally Posted by poppydog

You can get some leveling compound and try it yourself? We put in marmoleum, but I didn't want to mess with the leveling compound so I just built up low spots with some of that spongy mat like you can put on shelves in a garage. Worked well for the marmoleum, but I don't know if it would work in the case of laminate.

Leveling compound is a huge PITA but works well for small areas like bathrooms. I used it on our slab and the problem with it in large areas is it hardens so quickly that it leaves a hump/ring on the outer edge.

The pros use linoleum cut in circles to fill in smaller areas.

In the "olden days" of laminate, the first company to come out with it, advised using sand to level floors. So that is what I did when I gave up on the leveling compound. Put sand down, taped it with duck tape, and put the laminate on top. Worked perfectly well with no mess.

[siameseifyoupls]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

First question is what is your subfloor? Is it wood or concrete?

Concrete

[wheelsup]

Take an 8-ft level and go all around your floor. Both directions, long and wide. Use a sharpie to draw out the low areas.

Then fill with your preferred method. For larger areas you can use leveling compound, but be advised it's a two-person job and it hardens fast! For small areas just use sand and put a plastic sheet and duct tape over it.

It doesn't have to be perfectly flat, the install instructions will list the tolerance required.

Do it right the first time because I missed a spot and had to redo our dining room floor.

[Crashj007]

You are in luck. It can be fixed. If it is really bad, over an inch, lay down mortar mix to get close then use leveling compound or sand as suggested. Since you are over concrete you must use a moisture barrier which can be integrated with the padding.

[wheelsup]

The installers should be putting down the vapor barrier since it's on a slab.

[luckeeesmom]

I can't believe that you can't find a company who does this sort of thing. There are so many flooring installers in the RDU area.