Is It Ok To Put Down Wood Floor In Crawlspace

How to install hardwood flooring over a crawlspace without underlayment.

Is it ok to put down wood floor in crawlspace.

Crawl space insulation as a part of overall home air sealing and insulation helps maintain your entire home s energy efficiency without insulation heat and cool air are easily lost through the floor. The underlayment provides many benefits including moisture protection sound and thermal insulation and a cushion to make the floor more comfortable to walk on. Vapor barrier on ground floor of crawlspace the most common and correct method for installing a vapor barrier in a crawlspace. This is essentially a concrete barrier meant to help control moisture in the crawl space this is done several ways.

The ground floor could be river rock pea gravel dirt floor sand etc. 1 x 6 3 spruce is a step up from pallet quality wood but makes a fine usable floor in an unfinished attic space. Installing a hardwood floor directly over a crawlspace exposes the wood to moisture from the ground and from the air in the crawlspace. Crawl space moisture and hardwood flooring crawl space moisture and hardwood flooringto understand the cause of wood floors cupping or buckling when you re sure there is no water damage due to a flood or leak you must understand the relationship between relative humidity your wood floor and your crawl space during the summer months in the northeast region wood subfloors and floor joists.

Problems with putting wood flooring over a crawlspace. Insulation also helps to preserve the air quality and reduce energy costs. Wood floors and engineered wood flooring do not perform well in the presence of moisture. Moisture can damage a hardwood floor irreversibly so every installation should include effective safeguards against it.

A 6 mil polyethylene vapor barrier is placed over any ground floor. An underlayment is a necessity for any wood floor installation even on a plywood subfloor. In this design a concrete pad called a mud pad is poured on the crawl space floor. If the crawl space has any moisture problems then wood products should not be used the moisture will make the flooring rot and cup especially around any crawl space access doors in the floor.

The seams are typically overlapped 6 12 and almost never taped. To make the job easier use a circular saw to cut the plywood sheet first into 2 2 8 strips which will be much easier to handle.