Subfloor Repair in Murfreesboro, TN
We fix soft, damp and squeaky subfloors under hardwood floors in homes across Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
- Quotes in writing
- 18 areas covered
Murfreesboro Hardwood Flooring repairs subfloors in homes across Murfreesboro. The subfloor is the layer of plywood or boards your hardwood sits on. We open up the floor, find out what went wrong underneath, fix it, and put the hardwood back.
Signs the subfloor needs work
We come out when a floor feels soft or bouncy, when it dips in one spot, or when boards keep squeaking after they've been fastened down. We also look at floors where boards cup, which means the edges rise higher than the middle, and floors that smell musty.
We check the boards first, since the trouble can be in them, then look underneath from the crawl space or basement where we can reach it.
What we fix
We cut out soft or rotten sections of subfloor and fit new plywood in their place. We fasten loose subfloor panels down to the floor joists, the wood beams that hold the floor up, so they stop moving and squeaking.
We also fill low spots and sand down high spots, so the hardwood lies flat when it goes back down. If a joist under the floor is damaged, we'll tell you what we found and talk through the next step with you.
Finding where the water came from
The EPA says that if you clean up mold but don't fix the water problem, the mold will most likely come back. That is why we look for the cause before we lay any new wood, such as a leak under a sink, a toilet seal or a damp crawl space.
For kitchens, the EPA says flooring should keep any water that gets on the floor from soaking through to the subfloor and the space below. We'll talk with you about the spots in your home where water is most likely to reach the floor.
Damp crawl spaces
If your home sits over a crawl space, we check that too. A U.S. Forest Service study of 12 houses with raised wood floors in southern Louisiana found that in most cases, moisture in the subfloor was higher in summer than in winter. It also found the air in the crawl space held about as much moisture as the air outside.
We look at the crawl space under the damaged area and tell you what we see before we start work on the floor.
Getting the new wood ready
The Forest Service's Wood Handbook says to install wood at the moisture level it will have once it's in use. We check the new subfloor and the hardwood with a moisture meter, and we wait until the readings are where they should be before we close the floor up.
What changes the price
We price subfloor repair for your house once we've looked at the floor and what's under it, and you get that quote in writing.
We set our price by how much hardwood has to come up, how much subfloor needs replacing, whether we can reach the area from below, and how much of the room we sand and finish afterward so the boards blend in.
What to get in writing
Ask for these in writing, whoever you hire:
- How much of the subfloor will be replaced, and with what.
- Which hardwood boards will come up, and whether they go back or get replaced.
- What caused the damage, and whether fixing that cause is part of the job.
- Whether the repair area gets sanded and finished, or the whole room.
- How dust will be kept out of the rest of the house.
- Whether moving furniture out and back in is in the price.
Questions about subfloor repair in Murfreesboro
Do I need a permit to repair a subfloor in Murfreesboro?
The City of Murfreesboro says a permit is needed to repair a building or part of one. It also lists floor finishing among the normal maintenance repairs that can be done without a permit, as long as they don't break the code. Subfloor repair goes past the boards, so we check with the city before we start.
Can you save my hardwood boards when you fix the subfloor?
Often we can. We take the boards up carefully, number them, and put them back in the same order. If a board cracks on the way up, we replace it with one that matches.
What should I do if water has soaked into my floor?
The EPA says it is important to dry water-damaged areas within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth. Call us soon after a leak, and see our water-damaged hardwood floor repair page for how we dry a wet floor.
Is a squeaky floor always a subfloor problem?
We find where the movement is before we decide what to fix, since a squeak can come from a loose hardwood board, a loose subfloor panel or a gap over a joist. Our hardwood floor repair page covers board repairs.
Will the repair make a lot of dust?
OSHA, the federal workplace safety agency, says wood dust becomes a possible health problem when sanding and cutting put wood particles into the air. We close off the room we're working in and cover doorways and air vents with plastic.
How can I keep the new subfloor dry?
The EPA advises keeping indoor humidity below 60 percent if you can, and ideally between 30 and 50 percent. We'll talk with you about what the air in your house is doing in winter and summer.
Should I fix the subfloor before putting in a new hardwood floor?
Yes, we fix the subfloor first, so the new boards don't go down over soft or uneven wood. We do that repair before any hardwood floor installation.
Get a quote for subfloor repair
Call us, or send the quote form with your ZIP code and a few words about the problem. We'll look at the floor and under it, tell you what we'd fix and how, and give you a written quote. To see the other flooring work we do, go to the Murfreesboro Hardwood Flooring home page.
Ready to talk about your hardwood flooring job?
Call us or send the quote form with your ZIP code and what you need. We will get back to you with a written quote.