Warning: That '5 minute' glue-down job on a warped subfloor took me 6 hours

Went to do a quick bedroom install last Thursday in an old house near downtown. The subfloor had this weird hump near the doorway that I didnt notice until I started laying. Spent forever trying to shim and patch it level. Wasted a whole roll of tape and ended up trimming the carpet three times. Has anyone else run into hidden subfloor issues that made a simple job spiral out of control?

2 comments

2 Comments

raymitchell3d ago

Yeah, that hump near the doorway is basically a trap they set for you. I had a similar mess in an old house and what finally worked was just cutting out that whole hump section of subfloor with a circular saw and patching it with new 3/4 plywood. Took maybe an hour extra but saved me from fighting with shims and tape all day. Leveling compound can work too but I hate waiting for it to dry on a rush job.

webb.ben3d ago

Bruh, I gotta push back on this one. A 6 hour glue-down in an old house sounds about right to me. You walked into a house that's been settling for probably 80+ years, of course the subfloor is gonna be a mess. A hump near the doorway is like the oldest trick in the book, it's basically a rite of passage. I've done like 4 or 5 jobs in those old downtown houses and every single one needed a ton of self-leveler, a full day of sanding, or both before the carpet even touched the floor. Taping and shimming was probably fighting a losing battle from the start.