Stapling engineered through 3/8" of floor patch

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Went to look at a new home to advise the home owner. An electrician friend recommended me. Looks like three supporting beams across the 30' width of the home. The center one is high or the engineered beams have sagged.
All I had with me was my 4' angle aluminum to check for flatness.
I placed my 4' straightedge across the peak where the center support is.
With the straightedge centered, the ends were about 1/4" off the subfloor.
The subfloor is t&g OSB, most likely 3/4" thick.
Sanding 1/4" off the 3/4" thickness of the OSB feels wrong even tho there is a support beam directly under it.
I you didn't pay close attention to his flooring but it's an engineered hardwood at least 3/8" thick, maybe 7/16" or 1/2" being it's over OSB, it would have to be floated, right. I believe he was going to staple it. If stapled, what's gonna happen if it ends up having to go through 1/4" of cement based floor patch?
Just advising, but he'd like me to prep the floor too.
Its a nice new home, on a hill overlooking the bay, not a cheap one.
 
This is is "embellished" a bit, but visuals usually help 😉
Might be a tad less than 1/4"
........might be more 😳
I didn't pay that close attention. Besides, he'd already started sanding the board seam.
To staple, he'd need 1/2" plywood to be installed, right? The expensive wood entry door is already installed, so clearance might be an issue if underlayment layer is added.
Can you staple into OSB with 1/2" thick engineered?
 

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You say it’s a new home? I’d be talking to the builder.

Stapling through patch could lead to a lot of aggravation and bent staples. I would continue sanding.

I would not want to guarantee a job over OSB. I’d want a layer of plywood.

Surprised to hear an expensive home, by the water where humidity might be an issue, used OSB as a subfloor.
 
You can only sand the subfloor so much until you’ve sanded it too much. You got one of them fancy laser things? Prolly worth it to see where the floor is for flatness across the entire area. Then you know what you’re looking at so you can come up with a plan to fix it.

I’ve pulled subfloor and planed a high joist before. Might be a bit much to fix an entire beam throughout the main room.

Capping everything with 1/2” will get expensive real quick. OSB will hold staples just fine except where you sand the subfloor down to nothing😏

If it was my house I would prolly sand a bit then lay a WPC floor that will contour to the subfloor. Coretec for the win.
 
You say it’s a new home? I’d be talking to the builder.

Stapling through patch could lead to a lot of aggravation and bent staples. I would continue sanding.

I would not want to guarantee a job over OSB. I’d want a layer of plywood.

Surprised to hear an expensive home, by the water where humidity might be an issue, used OSB as a subfloor.
It's not on the water it's probably 300 to 400 ft in elevation. It's a view lot.
Department of forestry produced a book probably in the 50s or 60s about wood products and behaviors.
There was a chart showing wood humidity levels in different locations all around the world.
The chart showed wood moisture content during each month of the year at those locations. Anywhere on the coast, anywhere in the world, the coast as I recall was the most stable. The wood humidity or moisture content varied from 12 to 14% all year round. Inland the content would range from 6% to 28% or something crazy like that and that's where you'd run into more problems with moisture.....
.....well unless you leave the doors open.
When I visited the job the fellow was sanding the seams with a 12x 20-in square feet sander. I told him not to sand anymore of the floor because the edger sander would be more appropriate because it only hits the crown or peak where you'd want to remove material.
Late in the afternoon when the sun shines low into the room you can easily see the shadows from the humps and bumps in the OSB.
It's very common to have the OSB installed and then have it rain on it for a few weeks until the roof gets put on. That doesn't tend to ruin the osb, but it does puff up the chips that it's made of.
I told the owner before I left that he needs to talk to the contractor. I also told him that there are specifications for floor flatness and that he should look them up.
I don't know how much variance is allowed when building a new home.
 
You can only sand the subfloor so much until you’ve sanded it too much. You got one of them fancy laser things? Prolly worth it to see where the floor is for flatness across the entire area. Then you know what you’re looking at so you can come up with a plan to fix it.

I’ve pulled subfloor and planed a high joist before. Might be a bit much to fix an entire beam throughout the main room.

Capping everything with 1/2” will get expensive real quick. OSB will hold staples just fine except where you sand the subfloor down to nothing😏

If it was my house I would prolly sand a bit then lay a WPC floor that will contour to the subfloor. Coretec for the win.
Yep the fancy laser arrived day before yesterday. I took it down to the warehouse to see how far it would shine and the quality of the line that It produced. I think it went 80 ft or so into a dark area of the warehouse. With the warehouse lights on you could see it pretty well at 30 ft.
I figured what might work, is using a yardstick or a 1 inch dowel with a scale glued to it so I could stand up and check the floor instead of crawling around with a 6-ft straight edge.
I spent more than I initially planned on, $175 bucks. The different models varied and some required a rechargeable battery, some couldn't be used while plugged in but this one has three options. Using the rechargeable battery that came with it or using 4 AA batteries, or you can remove the battery and plug the charger in and use it that way. With a fully charged battery it says it can run 8 hours with all three lasers on. That would be silly because no way in hell am I going to be on a job for 8 hours ......you guys know that
1671817817703.png
 
I tried to copy the link but I keep getting directed back to Amazon and there's no link to press on so here's a picture of it. It's the 603CG-BT
Right now it's just a toy but I'll find out real soon how many uses I can find for it.
The specs say it's accurate to 1/9 of an inch in 33 ft.
1/9th ???????????😳
 

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Yup… makes finding the highs and lows soooo much easier. Whatever stick you choose paint it white… Or just use a white tape measure.

I’ll gladly recant my statement about the humidity being an issue but I’m still surprised to see OSB in a high end home. Around here everyone insists on plywood.
 
It's not often you see plywood in a home around here. I haven't checked the prices recently but it's still ridiculous. I remember 20 years ago I worked in a couple of homes that had inch and 1/8 tongue and groove plywood.
No I tell you something that I'm 16 in centers is one damn good floor.
Edit:
I wasn't drunk this morning when I typed this 😁
I just need to spell and word check Googles microphone to see how poorly it translates.
I believe it meant that 1 1/8" plywood on 16" centers makes for a damn good floor.
 
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It's not often you see plywood in a home around here. I haven't checked the prices recently but it's still ridiculous. I remember 20 years ago I worked in a couple of homes that had inch and 1/8 tongue and groove plywood.
No I tell you something that I'm 16 in centers is one damn good floor.
Edit:
I wasn't drunk this morning when I typed this 😁
I just need to spell and word check Googles microphone to see how poorly it translates.
I believe it meant that 1 1/8" plywood on 16" centers makes for a damn good floor.
It’s ok if you were drunk this morning. We don’t judge….. it’s the holidays after all!
 
Advantech is the new OSB. Made with fancy resins n technology n stuff. Supposed to have a 500 day no sand guarantee. It stays flat and doesn’t swell or flake like regular OSB does when it gets rained on. It’s a good product. Damn near everybody is using it these days. Using regular old OSB just seems like a pleb move and would make me wonder what else the builder cheaped out on.
 
Advantech is the new OSB. Made with fancy resins n technology n stuff. Supposed to have a 500 day no sand guarantee. It stays flat and doesn’t swell or flake like regular OSB does when it gets rained on. It’s a good product. Damn near everybody is using it these days. Using regular old OSB just seems like a pleb move and would make me wonder what else the builder cheaped out on.
Don't forget I live on the Oregon coast. Maybe the builders are the lumber yards here don't know about it because I haven't seen any yet. Somebody send some smoke signals this direction so we can keep up with the technology.
 

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