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Walked through a new custom build in Austin that had white oak floors throughout but the homeowner went cheap on the subflooring and now there's a 1/4 inch sag in the living room after only 6 months
Do you think spending big on visible finishes like hardwood and quartz is worth it if you cheap out on structural stuff like subfloor prep and vapor barriers, or is that just asking for expensive problems down the road?
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thompson.nathan7d ago
Didn't the inspector catch the subfloor issue before they laid that oak?
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charles_kelly437d ago
...and here's the thing nobody talks about - that 1/4 inch sag is probably gonna get worse with the seasons changing. Oak moves like crazy with humidity, and if the subfloor is already compromised, the expansion and contraction is just gonna work those boards loose over time. You can have the prettiest hardwood on the planet but if the foundation underneath is shifting or the subfloor isnt level, you're basically just watching your money slowly twist apart. I've seen people drop 20k on flooring and then cheap out on a 500 dollar vapor barrier and end up ripping everything out three years later. Good bones matter more than fancy tops, always has been that way.
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the_holly1d ago
Oh man, this hits close to home. I had a friend who dropped like 15k on this beautiful reclaimed hickory and they skipped the moisture test on the concrete slab. Fast forward a year and the boards started cupping so bad it looked like a roller coaster in their living room. @charles_kelly43 is totally right about that sag getting worse, my friend's contractor said the same thing about seasonal movement but they didn't listen. They ended up having to tear out half the floor and install a proper vapor barrier, cost them an extra 4 grand and a lot of frustration.
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