Install Hardwood Over Osb Subfloor

We re installing reclaimed oak t g 3 4 in our loft upstairs which has 3 4 osb subfloor over engineered joists.

Install hardwood over osb subfloor.

Builders often reserve the use of oriented stand board for residential sheathing and construct subfloors with plywood. Osb subfloor is mostly serving as a base under the finish floor hardwood engineered wood vinyl tile etc and even below the underlayment in some cases. Osb subflooring looks like and is a bunch of wood chips glued together. Okay to install hardwood over osb.

Installation usually consists of gluing and nailing the osb sheets to the floor joists. Ideally i would tear out the existing finish flooring screw down the existing plank subfloor where loose repair the plank subfloor where needed and then lay my new. An increasing number of homes and light commercial buildings have oriented strand board osb subfloors. How to install a wooden floor over osb.

While this is not a definitive guide to hardwood installation over osb panels there are some important points to ponder. 3 4 thick solid wood flooring can be installed directly over 3 4 thick osb subfloor. Builders choose osb because it typically costs less than plywood free of knots and voids and can be used interchangeably in typical flooring applications where the panels have the correct span rating. Plywood and osb over joists.

Plywood and osb subfloors over joists are most common in newer homes and new construction typically in homes with basements or crawlspaces. Osb oriented strand board subflooring. Other osb negatives contractors builders and home remodelers have mixed opinions about the use of osb for flooring mostly tending toward the negative. Select an approved adhesive for sub flooring that is strong enough to keep its bond over the lifetime of the floor and elastic enough to allow for settling in the panels and joists.

Even so the national wood flooring. The national wood flooring association advises that osb sub flooring panels be glued and fastened. 1 suitable wood flooring. Right now i have 3 4 tg hardwood which is not in the best shape over a 2 5 wide x 3 4 inch think plank subfloor which runs perpendicular to the joists 2x10 16 oc.

Hardwood can make for a durable and beautiful floor but small mistakes in the subflooring or installation can wreak havoc and buckling squeaky uneven floors can all result from poor installation. We ll be using a pneumatic toe nailer and plan to lay it directly over the osb without an underlayment such as roofing felt craft paper etc. It is standard practice to install the hardwood floors.