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By Terry Z. Voster

You may have among the worst situations found by homeowners up for a kitchen or bathroom renovation. You have purchased a new home or pre owned condo, have embarked on a reno project on your bathroom or washroom.

Upon inspecting, or having a home contractor or handyman embark on the job or work estimate of replacing the floor discover the previous owner knowingly to save construction and renovation costs or unwittingly not realized that they were embarking on shady dealings or a poor bargain from a contractor has laid vinyl peel and stick tiles directly over the subfloor of particle board. It may be that its just general home renovations and upgrades or it may be a case that water has leaked out of the plumbing or over time in the washroom from the fixtures. You either have to or want to replace that flooring. What is a fix in this situation to either replace flooring or for fixing that thoroughly soaked sub-floor in the bathroom areas?

It is definitely a case of all possible worlds that is finding vinyl peel-and stick tiles lying over particle board. You can fix the situation yet in many cases experienced home repair tradespeople and handy men will advise you that this is but a short term fix.

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In the flooring trades the sub-floor of particle board is often referred to directly as the underlayment. Particle board which some say is among the worst plagues to ever bedevil mankind is in actuality little more than glued compressed sawdust which was a cash cow to its inventor and innovator to its Canadian forest park inventors. A cash cow to the wood mils but not to the average tradesperson or home owner. With what was basically garbage to the wood mills sawdust a throw away item was converted into a building product and basic staple of home and furniture builders the flip side of the equation that although rigid particle-board is rigid has no bend. It can basically lay straight in one piece, be snapped off, but can bend. Worse yet this rigid piece of glued sawdust warps in one giant bend when wet. It cannot be tacked down or held in place when warped. There it bends into the air upwards taking your flooring off the ground. All in al its sole purpose is to provide a smooth surface with which to glue vinyl. Hopefully your particle board has been nailed down to a beefier surface such as good old fashioned plywood which to its credit unlike particle board does have integrity of structure.

Yet what can you do to remedy the situation? For a quick fix you can cut off the damaged sections of underlayment, let the area more than thoroughly dry for several weeks and then replace the damaged tiles. That is if you can find the pattern and a reasonably close in appearance production lot.

The beauty of this project is that for most home owners with a little repair skills under their belt can do this simple repair themselves with a little elbow grease and thus reduce costs. If not it should be a pretty simple low tech job for a relative with the skills or a local home handyman.

A sub floor can present difficulties if soaked with water. Adhesive may have curled at the edges of the tiles themselves. Yet a temporary fix until you call in a professional contractor can be easily done by most home owners whether in a house, condo or vacation cottage.

About the Author: Terry Z. Vostor

Furnasmans One Hour Heating Winnipeg

Manitoba

Wpg Canada Furnace MenGarden City West Kildonan East St. Paul Furnaces Water Heaters

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