Securing sub floor with staples before hardwood

9/27/2017 at 9:06:54 AM

Hi Brad,

The staples are fine. However, you should demand the contractor to use screws as well. If it's a question of cost, tell you will pay for the screws. The contractor will have to assume an hour or 2 of labour; all depending on your square footage.

David Walker

9/27/2017 at 9:39:00 AM

My question first would be, why he needs to put a subfloor on top of a plywood subfloor.

Than if you really need it, you should have it screwed down.

9/27/2017 at 10:01:24 AM

You didn't say what type of hardwood or it's thickness so I'm assuming that it is engineered requiring underlay to match the level of anajacent floor.

Personally would have used glue and the staples. So now it would be wise to put at least some screws. If the underlay had been glued and stapled and the Harwood glued down you garateed no squeeks

9/27/2017 at 10:46:30 AM

Hello there,

Staples are fine and are used all the time nowadays to fasten plywood to original plywood. We use PL subfloor adhesive caulking in between the two layers of plywood and then staple it every 3-4 inches. What needs to be done is all the original subfloor needs to be screwed to the floor joists before you add additional plywood on top of it.

Hope this helps you.

9/27/2017 at 1:04:14 PM

Staples are fine because the hardwood will ultimately be cleated down through the subfloor and plywood. I personally would staple and glue down the subfloor, but we live in a colder climate.

9/28/2017 at 8:08:54 AM

All of these process just to make sure there is squeak after the hardwood is done. First he has to screw down the original sub floor to the joists then he has staples and glue the new plywood to the original sub-floor. He doesn't really has to use a new sub-floor as long as the original one is good and levels are good to, he just need to screw it down to floor joists.