Subfloor and Rain

Originally Posted By: eidaj
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They began framing my house and unfortunatly it has rained quite a bit on the subfloor. I live in Michigan so we weren’t expecting any rain in December, go figure. The material used is plywood but I don’t know the grade etc, is there a way to tell by looking at the sheets? I already see some dilaminating and buckeling. Not sure if these are the right terms but basically the top layer in some areas is coming up, not the entire sheet but small areas starting at the edge. I also see some small areas that bubble/bulge upward. I’ll try to take pictures. I have two questions:


1) Will this cause problems with the 3" solid hardwood flooring that is installed later?

2) Can they replace the subfloor if the walls are up? They have all the walls studded out on the first floor, can they work around these since they are nailed into the subfloor?


Originally Posted By: Blaine Wiley
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Rain is a common occurrence when building a house. If the house is built during a wet season, you can expect wood shrinkage as the house dries, which will result in “nail pops” and shrinkage cracks in the drywall, and an occasional other minor issue. By the time the hardwood flooring is installed the house should have dried, and if proper installation steps are taken the flooring will have acclimated to the humidity in the home prior to installation.


Get yourself a good home inspector to do a phase inspection. You seem to have too many questions about your builder.


Originally Posted By: dsmith1
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What happens is the edges of the panels absorb moisture more easily and swell up. If the panels are installed too tightly the problem can be worse as the whole panel can swell and buckle at the joints.


I built my own house and had this happen to me. The problem was not too too severe and I sanded down the raised areas at the panel joints before installing the hard wood floor.


Originally Posted By: lfranklin
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Sorry, but going off topic a little bit.


Do they use Advantec for sub flooring up north or down south?

They claim water can stand on it and if you keep it swept off that it will not warp or bow. This is mind boggling since it is an OSB board. They say it has a fifty year warranty and the HomeDepot brand is for life. Well for the price it should be.


Originally Posted By: ccoombs
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I agree with all the advice given above. Additionally, there could be concern for floor squeaks. This may not be an issue with 3" sold flooring.


You may want to call the manufacture of the plywood. Some companies will have a rep provide field visit at no charge.

Good luck.


Originally Posted By: mkober
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Simple Solution: Offer to take your contractor AND his entire framing crew out to breakfast in exchange for them sanding down the lumps to the industry standard tolerance of 1/8" in 10’. If he doesn’t go for that, remind him that your one-year warranty period will make him wish he never heard of the term “call-back.” On a serious note, take Blaine’s advice and hire a qualified construction inspector–quickly.



Michael J. Kober, P.E. and H.I.


"NACHI Member and Proud Of It!"