How to Replace Glued Subfloor Boards

Water damage is a common reason for replacing subfloors.

A subfloor is wooden flooring installed over floor joists in a home. Most subflooring consists of plank boards or 4-by-8 sheets of plywood. Subfloors are either nailed, stapled or glued to floor joists. You may need to replace glued subflooring for various reasons, water damage being most common.

Things You'll Need

• Tape measure
• Pencil
• Hammer
• Pry bar
• Circular saw
• Putty knife
• Cordless screwdriver
• Screws
• Carpenter’s wood glue

Instructions

1. Remove any floor covering to expose your subflooring. You may be able to reuse vinyl flooring or carpeting after repairing the subfloor. Take care not to disturb any area that needn't be removed if you plan to reuse your floor covering.

2. Determine how much subflooring you need to remove. Mark the area with a pencil.

3. Determine where your floor joists are by looking at nail patterns or tapping the flooring with a hammer; a joist will make a solid sound when tapped. Floor joists are usually 2-by-6 boards that run from one side of your home to the other.

4. Remove a small section of subflooring between the floor joists using a circular saw. Adjusting your saw's blade height to just cut through the subfloor material. Cut out the entire area of subflooring that requires replacement. If replacing a large area, you may have to cut pieces into smaller sections for easier removal.

5. Pry up the subflooring with a pry bar and hammer if necessary. Depending on the type of subfloor, you may need to replace entire sheets. If board planks were used, replace only the planks requiring it. Some pieces will be stuck to the floor joists by glue. Once all the flooring is removed from the floor joists, use a putty knife to scrape debris and excess glue from the floor joists. Remove any nails or screws. Ensure that the floor joists are scraped smooth before replacing any flooring.

6. Measure the depth of your original flooring and purchase new flooring with the same depth to cover the exposed area.

7. Cut the new flooring to fit the exposed area. Place glue on the floor joists and lay your new subflooring over the glue. Secure the subflooring by placing screws 12 inches apart throughout the area, being sure to hit the floor joists. You may need to install floor joist planks if the edges of the new subflooring are not falling securely on a joist. If necessary, cut 2-by-6 boards and nail them to the original floor joists lengthwise or crosswise to support the new subflooring.

References

• Hardwood Installer: Removing Glue Down Hardwood Floors On Concrete
• Hardwood Flooring Types: The Glue Down Method Of Installing Hardwood Flooring