Replacing your floor is one daunting renovation project! The costs of floor replacement can easily climb into the dozens of thousands of dollars, and that’s just the beginning of your headaches.
Where do you live while the work is being done? Where do you store your furniture? Will the installers do a good job and take care of your house? How long will it really take? Will the floor still squeak after installation?
You may have considered these questions, so in this article we will cover some of the more surprising dangers of floor replacement.
Health Risks
Underneath the floor you see and walk on are the subfloor and structural components which trap potential health hazards within them. These asbestos, pet fur, dust mites, mold, fiberglass, plaster, rust and so on, don’t pose any danger to you, unless they become airborne and contaminate the space you live in. In some extreme cases, we've found asbestos liners directly under our clients' hardwood!
Tearing out your existing floor aggressively releases all these toxins directly into your living space! Beware!
Unforeseen Complications
Home repair projects are infamous for their expense and budgetary overruns. Floor replacement is a major culprit of these unforeseen costs. Once you tear up your floor and look at the subfloor, there is a high likelihood that it is damaged and in need of repair. Most commonly, sections of the subfloor are worn out, rotten, water damaged or even entirely missing.
There’s also a chance that your subfloor is wavy, bulged or sunken in places. To do the job right and install your new flooring over a properly flattened subfloor, your installer will need to tear up sections of your subfloor in order to level the joists – this will not only add significant costs, it will also expose your family to potentially hazardous dust hiding underneath the subfloor.
Poor Installation
Unfortunately, the dangers of floor replacement don’t end there; the newly installed floor may have technical complications post-installation. A common culprit is the improper installation of fasteners in the new floor. Fasteners can be of poor quality, or sparingly used. Poor quality fasteners can loosen soon after installation, causing squeaks. Cutting corners by not using enough fasteners can leave large spans of unfastened floor boards, which allows for movement that also causes squeaks.
Material Quality Issues
New is not always better. Your existing floor has had time to settle, stabilize and take its final shape. This means that the noise and squeaking you find in your existing floor is predictable, making it easy to locate and silence using our service.
When you replace a floor with new materials, you are at the mercy of not only your installer’s skills but the quality of the material you purchased, its transportation and treatment during storage - all things that you cannot control. The result of poor material quality and handling is that your new floor can warp, expand or contract, loosening and pulling out fasteners.
In situations when you absolutely hate your floor or it’s beyond repair, of course we recommend replacement. However, by far most floors can be restored to your heart’s content with our squeaky floor silencing service and a refinishing company. Even when replacing a floor, you can use our service to make sure your sub-floor is silenced.
If you want to silence your squeaky floors without floor removal or replacement, call Squeak Knights. We have diagnosed and permanently silenced hundreds of floors in the Greater Toronto Area – with no floor removal!
Written by the Squeak Knights Team.
Our passion is to help you feel more comfortable in your own home, so don’t be shy to contact us with any questions you may have:
(647) 427-4260