P.S. Today, practically all manufacturers follow to some degree what the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) recommends. Home Improvement Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for contractors and serious DIYers. That rosin paper … I personally no longer use rosin paper on wood floor installs simply because I like to use adhesives on miter cuts used for perimeter picture frames and inlays. felt are moisture barriers or retarders and can be used under the new wood. Installing rosin paper is a critical element in the installation process of any hardwood floor. In 2009 we installed hardwood flooring in 3 bedrooms, using roofing felt as instructed by the store from which we purchased the flooring. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. The wax paper provides a professional grade thickness and performance to help ease the installation and reduce squeaks in wood floors. That seems pretty minimally valuable. (Do not glue down a solid floor). A.Wood flooring contractor and consultant Howard Brickman responds: Rosin paper, bad; 15- and 30-pound asphalt-saturated felt, good. I'd choose that over polyethylene. The best choice for the vapor retarder is a rated building paper designed for use under wood floors that meets UU-B-790. A lot of the squeaking on older floors are actually the nails moving in the subfloor, so today we use threaded nails, and for the most part and that solves that problem. Installers love red rosin paper because it is really cheap and easily covers up the dusty subfloor, making it easier to slide the wood flooring into position during installation. Additionally, neither of these products offer what many consumers are led to believe; a true moisture barrier. for example you have a job where plywood needs to be changed {underlayment} The moisture content of kiln dried oak is 7-10% the moisture level of new plywood even home depot is 15-20% . This question gets asked a lot in various DIY or even contrator forums. Black paper is used for slid and vapor barrier. I can understand why it would be useful for housewrap. Why would patient management systems not assert limits for certain biometric data? So I thought, I don't want this under my floor and should be replaced. What a difference it makes in noise. have a good day Oakman. When I pulled up an Oak prefinished floor to replace with Maple, I noticed the roofing felt was very dirty, hardened by past spills (I am assuming) and THIN!. the black paper does the trick the new floor does not absorb the moisture from below, so rosin is ok for dry older homes and black paper for damp ares. I never noticed a problem sliding the boards. ft. Is this wrong? I am a builder who was taught by builders and the reason I still use rosin paper is to create air space between layers of wood flooring and underlayment so if the wood ever needs to dry out that it could. Red rosin paper is a poor choice. It also provided a smoother surface to slide boards around on older diagonal laid subfloors. It makes it easy to spot wood chips or splinters or this or that that will prevent the next piece from drawing up tight. I figured the lack of squeaks was from using a sound, level subfloor, and installing the T&G tightly. So, I believe it is about the subfloor wood in terms of creaking, not the underlayment. Is it legal to pay someone money if you don't know who they are? First question is why would anyone install flooring over a moist crawl space? After the floor was laid, the original build room has some squeaks to it, but the addition has ZERO. I got an apartment that was right above the laundry room, and the only bedroom was right over the light for that room. There is no difference in sound. Under a floor? If you want a silent (relatively silent) hardwood floor then screw down your subfloor, and use the glue down installation method. It has been awhile since your answer and this question. The padding is more expensive but worth it. The consensus varies and seems to have more to do with regional habits or preferences. It is ideal to use for all home renovations and construction projects. Red rosin is known for improving moisture resistance and tearing. Adding either a layer of felt or rosin paper isolates the wood layers and helps to minimize squeaking wood to wood. Funny, I was told to use roofing felt and never even questioned it. And one of their recommendations is the use of asphalt felt paper over wood sub floors. Glued flooring is often installed to concrete subfloors. Those were both buildings built a long time ago. If u are installing nail down wood flooring you should use 15 # felt paper. Maybe it's because I'm using OSB as a subfloor which is a pretty smooth surface? ©2002-2021 All Rights Reserved. Why do guitarists specialize on particular techniques? It is single ply and is usually a component for protecting roofs and … The problem is when there is too much moisture. Is moisture a concern with solid hardwood flooring over a crawl space? Its a piece of PAPER. I think I was told it was to prevent squeaks. Rosin paper has perm rating of 100 or more. Nails versus screws? I laid the floor and went at it and did two rooms. An underlayment under solid floors is nearly always to restrict moisture transfer, not to prevent squeaks. Why are you nailing? I have looked and looked on the net for answer to this question. It may have served a purpose back then, but with the nails and specific guns that are used today, it is not necessary. What type of underlayment do installers use for nailing down hardwood floors? Hardwood flooring needs to expand and contract with the house. I was going to buy it in the roofing section of HD Thanks for any advice. To help prevent squeaks and air leaks. Method to evaluate an infinite sum of ratio of Gamma functions (how does Mathematica do it?). I believe paper was used back in the day, and the "tradition" has been carried on. It is used as a moisture-barrier and it allows the wood floor above it to breathe. The extremely sensitive almost always do well with this, with only a few people mentioning that the undyed Rosin Paper was preferred. It is used as a moisture-barrier and it allows the wood floor above it to breathe. Rosin, after all, is derived from resin, the pitch that comes from pine trees and has long been used as a waterproofing material. These products should not be used on wood subfloors as they only serve to trap moisture and can lead to mold growth under the right conditions. When installing hardwood floors, should I use rosin paper, roofing felt, or nothing underneath? Now, here is where I think the answer comes into play and why underlayment is trivial for squeaks and pops. I recommend using it. However, paper and felt do not absorb sound in any meaningful way, nor do they make the surface any softer to walk on, in the same sense that foam underlayment does with laminate flooring. These materials help minimize squeaking that may occur between the bottom of the floorboards and the top of the subfloor. If you’re worried that red rosin paper is just plain old paper, it’s not. Also to add, the other rooms in the house that have 3/4' solid Oak have underlayment and I get the same types of cracks and squeaks in areas that aren't walked on often as I do on my new Maple floor without underlayment. Also, notice most of the tarpaper is now listed as #15 and not 15 lb. I can imagine using plywood as a subfloor, in the days before OSB, might/could cause hitches when sliding boards during installation. Level a linoleum or vinyl floor for bamboo flooring. The older materials, such as tar paper and roofing felt, will do a similar job, but they're generally thicker, heavier, more costly and/or break down faster. My contractor used felt. Then I thought one day, this seems silly to do this step. The question is often asked. It's still important because even with screw holes, it prevents moisture from outside air from contacting the majority of the drywall. site design / logo © 2021 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. Asphalt felt paper is installed by rolling out on the subfloor before installing nail down products. And I will admit that felt paper sheets rolled onto a flat floor can be anything but waterproof. I usually shop-vac the OSB before laying down the floorboards, so is this really a benefit? Squeaking comes from movement, nails that move in and out of their holes. Our childhood home had hardwood floors and no felt paper. It is used as a moisture-barrier and it allows the wood floor above it to breathe. How to explain the gap in my resume due to cancer? Ugh. I can understand why it would be useful on a roof. Rosin paper or felt paper under hardwood. Go figure. Any beginner can use paper and it's much easier to get into place. It offers little protection against water vapor. So yesterday there was roof felt under some tile, they use it for crack suppression membrane(not endorsed by NTCA) and over time it gets brittle, so I assume over time it does break down. A lot of the squeaking on older floors are actually the nails moving in the subfloor, so today we use threaded nails, and for the most part and that solves that problem. 40 years in floor installation and refinishing business,my father started in 1934, we used rosin paper so oak slides in easier,over splinters and nail heads. Upstairs when I started, I skipped doing the rosin in two rooms but put it in the master room. to 12 in. The problem is, there doesn't seem to be a general convergence to a single answer. +1 since I like a lot of what Mike Holmes says, but the reason it's not a vapor barrier is not because you're putting a bunch of holes in it, but because it allows water vapor to penetrate along with the air, unlike plastic which is not breathable at all. Felt paper comes in 15-pound and 30-pound … Every time there was more liquid than the floor could wick up, it would leak right through to my ceiling. I'm betting that the newer materials that you are using will be plenty to prevent any light coming through from an unfinished basement, but what will happen to any liquids that get spilled on the floor above? So we need to either spend thousands of dollars fixing the problem or move. oak got wet so you rip it out, the subfloor got wet but you can't rip it out. How to defend reducing the strength of code review? I have 15 yrs in flooring installation you should not use felt paper or rosin paper under laminate u should use the foam padding that the laminate flooring company says should be used under it. This is what I would use under wood floors. Do either of these layers provide sound-deadening or anti-squeak qualities? Is this because I'm really strong? (Keep in mind that the modern luxuries of complicated heating and air conditioning systems were nonexistent; there was little concern for what happened once the hardwood flooring went down.) Protective Flooring Paper Contractor approved, Made In Canada and 100 recyclable and reusable, Floor Shield is the most cost effective heavy duty floor protection available. 12 popular moisture barrier paper for hardwood floors if you are trying to seek ideas for 12 popular moisture barrier paper for hardwood floors then this is the area to be. When I walked in the first bedroom just after my husband had laid the tar paper and smelled it, I was concerned, but we had other things going on and wanted to get the job done and out of the way, and my husband brushed me off and went ahead and laid the flooring. I agree...this barrier is to take up the gaps between two organic not perfectly engineered materials. Age becomes a factor when the subfloor ages, shrinks a bit making the nails holding the hardwood a bit loose. Eventually there was considerable damage to the ceiling, not to mention to my valuables below. Rosin paper is a multi-purpose building paper used underneath hardwood floors as an underlayment. Some recommend using a bead of urethane glue every 10 in. It can also be used as an underlayment for landscaping and plastering projects. Also suppose you have a situation of flooding. (Rosin paper would cut the noise, but not the moisture.) I would suggest a floating floor in these situations. If you are performing home renovations, for instance, you can lay rosin paper over furniture and other surfaces to protect them from becoming inundated with dust. Really? The purpose of the paper or felt is to reduce the sound under foot. I vote that if there is any moisture problem at all that should be addressed first before all the work of bringing in expensive flooring. The Trimaco 3 ft. x 167 ft. Red Rosin Medium Weight Paper features a moisture barrier that makes it capable of being used in flooring and roofing projects. AquaBar is essentially more expensive building felt. Or, if you do nail it down, and it is an engineered floor, use hardwood tongue and groove flooring glue in the end joints to help minimize movement between boards. In reality, rosin paper did little more than newspaper: It kept down dust but did nothing to retard moisture migration. If you don't agree give me the perm rating of either or both. we have fixed squeaks by top nailing through oak, subfloor and into beams, no movement no noise. what does RED ROSIN PAPER mean? Even if the problem was not a result of the wrong underlayment! If you decide to go without, silicon paper is the minimum underlayment you want. I find no sense in gluing wood to paper. I've installed for 20 years and do not use paper. Roofing felt is not considered toxic and is not listed as a carcinogen. A vapor barrier such as kraft paper will trap any such fumes, but may not be necessary depending on the flooring material. I copied this from the hardwood floor contractor who did a kitchen in my home once. They never say, "The squeaky (screw) gets the grease"! I would never do a floor installation over moisture. "Vapor barrier", the real 6mil clear plastic sheeting, gets its share of holes as well when the drywall is screwed to the studs. Not a magic layer. I now suffer from chronic inflammation of both sinuses & other body tissue, and our youngest son has sinus issues and has even suffered from migraines. That is the only reason to use it except on an old, old plank floor. Once the ceiling fell, I could see light coming through the small cracks between each board. I've installed hardwood floors, over top of OSB subfloor with a layer of roofing felt in between. x 166 in. He'd been in business for 20 years so I trusted him. Stack Exchange network consists of 176 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Why? I cannot remember whether they attached the tar to the wall and floor or to the cabinets. The wax paper is simply placed between the subfloor and the wood flooring on above grade installations. Ideal to use as underlayment, in landscaping, plastering and as protection against overspray. Regardless of the fact, by not following a simple recommendation of using felt paper may void any warranty you may think you have. Difference between 'sed -e' and delimiting multiple commands with semicolon. I'm convinced it's from the off-gassing of the roofing felt under the hardwood, which has shrunk some in spite of acclimatization procedures so there are 1/32 - 1/16" gaps between the boards. I'm in the process of installing engineered flooring in my house. Comes in an extra large, 3 ft. x 250 ft. roll for a total of 750 sq. 36-inch x 50 ft. The squeaky NAIL gets the grease...right? Grins! (The old cabinets were riddled with termites, only paint holding them together!) I was leaning toward a 30# black felt (oiled) paper to put over the original floor boards for a 3/4" solid h/w install rather than a 15# black felt or the red rosin kraft paper. Do I care if my OSB gets dusty? At night when people would do their laundry, my floor turned into a planetarium. Rosin paper was originally used as a protective barrier on wood subfloors not for moisture, but a method installers used years ago to keep plaster dust from getting in their eyes or blasting everywhere when a board was nailed in the old fashioned way, by hand. But thinking about it now that doesn't really make sense as floor squeaking is caused by the flooring (or subfloor) moving up and down against a nail, not by the floorboards somehow sliding across the subfloor. Floors are being nailed down with staples and I though they wouldn't move against the sub floor at all. Rosin paper is a multi-purpose building paper used underneath hardwood floors as an underlayment. should developers have a say in functional requirements. You should be using a pad designed for flooring; it prevents squeaks, insulates your floor and on the higher end pads, has a moisture barrier built in. Rosin paper was originally used as a protective barrier on wood subfloors not for moisture, but a method installers used years ago to keep plaster dust from getting in their eyes or blasting everywhere when a board was nailed in the old fashioned way, by hand. Is fan fold insulation an acceptable underlayment for hardwood? http://www.theaudiopedia.com What is RED ROSIN PAPER? It only takes a minute to sign up. It is and will have character. Nowhere do they mention rosin paper. Also, flooring should be allowed to 'acclimate' to the environment before being 'screwed' not nailed to the subfloor. ---- Many manufactures today say that rosin paper is your choice. Does roofing felt used in this way also provide a vapor barrier, and if so, why is that important under hardwood? Our installer did this when installing our new cabinets in a condo several years ago and we have had NO bug problem since. I don't feel good about selling the problem to someone else. Second is why aren't you using screws versus nails? If you're familiar with the fine material that makes up plaster or drywall dust one can better understand the purpose. Rosin paper is used under hardwood flooring to provide a vapor barrier. And in my opinion, the only way to prevent floor squeaks is deck screws. He also says it is definitly not a vapor barrier since you make hundreds nail holes through it. Just good craftsmanship. The most common material nowadays is Tyvek, also sold as TyPar; it's a polyethylene plastic mesh that is water-resistant, but breathable, so liquid water can't get in, but air (and any water vapor it carries) can, allowing the wood to "acclimate" to changes in humidity without being at risk for real water damage. Why can't GCC generate an optimal operator== for a struct of two int32s? What is your expert opinion on the best type of underlayment for my solid hardwood flooring, i.e wax paper one-sided with silicone, wax paper two-sided, felt, rosin paper, aquabar? Why does catting a symlinked file and redirecting the output to the original file make the latter file empty? Why would an air conditioning unit specify a maximum breaker size? Regular 15# asphalt-impregnated building felt is what I put under hardwood floors. Downstairs I'm in the process of laying the floor there and have rosin paper down the living room and tar paper in the kitchen. Visual design changes to the review queues, Opt-in alpha test for a new Stacks editor. Surface protection paper is useful for flooring and roofing projects. I have laid a lot of 3/4 inch hardwood flooring. Landscaping – Weed Control Landscapers use red rosin paper to prevent weeds from germinating. I've just purchased 3/4" oak hardwood and the installation requires underlayment or the warranty is void. It is also useful as a protective layer on floors as it resists debris and wears well under heavy foot traffic. It’s extremely low in odor and even that dissipates rather quickly. For example I have two horror stories from living in apartments that were T&G floors without a felt paper barrier: An upstairs neighbor had a nasty habit of spilling drinks on his floor. Adding either a layer of felt or rosin paper isolates the wood layers and helps to minimize squeaking wood to wood. I read elswhere that rosin paper was originally used to keep floors clean (protect from the dust from drywall finishing, for example), and make it easy to slide floorboards. The other room was built originally about 25 years ago. and the foam is for your floating laminite floors . The second room is an addition added roughly 10 years ago. How do I handle a colleague who fails to understand the problem, yet forces me to deal with it. When walking in the rooms that don't have the paper I do hear the floor rub slightly against the sub floor but I don't hear that in the master. I believe tar paper under wood floor or cabinets is an old and effective preventive against termites! Red Rosin Paper or Builder's Felt . Roofing felt rosin paper and plastic vapor barriers are poor substitutes. Should hardwood floors go all the way to wall under kitchen cabinets? Your advice is correct for a floating floor, not for a nailed down T&G(tongue and groove). OK here we go. Some people use red rosin paper, but I like the vapor barrier qualities of the felt. The paper is installed just before the wood flooring and comes in rolls of various lengths. Red Rosin Paper. Red Rosin paper can also be used to temporarily protect a work site during construction. Can you use rosin paper under hardwood floors? I believe for squeaks. Red Rosin Paper provides a superior moisture ... Trimaco’s heavyweight option is a suitable protective barrier for hardwood floors. Waxed and rosin probably no, I thought Aquabar was silicone based. Is it legal to estimate my income in a way that causes me to overpay tax but file timely? After the subfloor is down, roll out either felt paper or rosin paper, starting next to the longest wall. This issue is more common with prefinished manufacturers. As auujay (and Mike Holmes) said, nothing you put a bunch of nails through will be a 100% impermeable barrier to water; the object is simply to minimize the transfer of water. Heavy-Weight Red Rosin Paper is an excellent moisture barrier making. They let moisture pass through but at a slower rate. Our hardwoods are manufactured, finished and shipped from SE Ohio. The medium weight paper can be used for underlayment in ... for a particular purpose or use. Also with 3/4" subfloor and 3/4" flooring, you have 1.5" of wood, not much will be heard through that unless you are some hard walkers. How to tell coworker to stop trying to protect me? I hid it in this riddle. A: You will do well with the roofing paper. This is used as a barrier against moisturizer and it helps the above wooden surface to breathe. If anything, having a somewhat resilient layer between the boards and the subfloor would slightly increase the likelihood of a squeak developing, wouldn't it? The paper roll help help existing floors from scratches, paint spills, etc. Moisture or lack of moisture is what make the wood expand and contract. Neither rosin paper or 15 lb. Remember this is hardwood. First, though, check the flooring manufacturer’s instructions. While overlapping of underlayment on the #15 is often up for debate, the #30 pound product will be too thick for this purpose and should be butted together. None of the above. Should I use a 6 mil poly moisture barrier for engineered hardwood floor installed over concrete slab-on-grade? It also does knock down noise of two sheets rubbing. Rosin paper would block light from the basement shining through the floorboards. uptownfloors.com. Both without felt underlayment and Maple 3/4 '' flooring. Adding either a layer of felt or rosin paper isolates the wood layers and helps to ... the floor there and have rosin paper down the living room and tar paper in the ... oak is 7-10% the moisture level of new plywood even Seven Trust is 15-20% . It's one less area of wood-on-wood contact to pop and squawk. Uptown Floors is a national online retailer of high quality prefinished hardwood floors. One section of my house is on slab and that area is using a foam pad with vapor barrier, but the floor there is floating and not nailed. Tried a true, Red Rosin is the old school underlayment paper used under real wood flooring. Any help you can provide me would be very much appreciated. You WILL need paper or poly when installing over a garage or crawlspace (moisture barrier). For roofing use as a protective barrier to prevent asphalt or coal tar dripping. The paper is installed just before the wood flooring and comes in rolls of various lengths. I would make the owner get that fixed FIRST. It should be avoided in favor of rated materials. What are the consequences of not completely removing the old polyurethane? Generally wood flooring these days is laid on a 3/4" plywood subfloor, whereas in the 50's and 60's a subfloor was 3" by 3/4" planking. First of all, the most common reasons for squeaky hardwood floors are age and installation over uneven subfloors, where any movement of wood on wood makes the sounds. I have seen large gym floor repairs where flooring cups due to moisture transfer. Good luck. Rosin paper is also commonly used as general purpose protective sheathing. (not likely). Rosin paper is a multi-purpose building paper used underneath hardwood floors as an underlayment. Do you want the flooring to sit in the water or do you want any liquids to just pass through to the other areas? Rosin and felt are merely air blockers. Unfortunately most of the time they’ll blame the installer. Manufacturers can be brutal when it comes to who is at fault with problems. Wooden floors will act as a vapor barrier and are often laid directly on top of the felt. Mike Holmes says he uses it for mostly to keep dust down and to make it a little easier to slide the boards. I did put roofing paper down, which made the installation in that case very easy. The problem with using rosin paper or some other paper the handyman mentions is what happens in the case of product problems. under the planks, which would make it impossible to use the felt paper. So in your case, it certainly can't hurt to use some paper. So in your case, it certainly can't hurt to use some paper. The need for paper under hardwood is a myth. And thats why you hire a contractor with experience . Paper or felt are two materials that are traditionally installed between hardwood flooring and the subfloor. I always thought that the felt paper under floors was for water retention, and so you couldn't see any light coming from the floor below. Rosin paper is a multi-purpose building paper used underneath hardwood floors as an underlayment. I had already become chemically sensitive from the materials we used in the building of a home we lived in previously. The old floor had nails from OSB to joists. Hope this helps. Red rosin paper has certain “breathability” attributes that you need for wood flooring, because wood flooring needs to breathe, too. Using tar paper since there is a much greater chance of moister variations in the subfloor there and reducing that transfer to the wood floor. Rosin paper is a multi-purpose building paper used beneath the hardwood floors as an underlayment. AFTER installation, I have the same squeaks on the floor as I had when carpet was over the floor. How was pH measured back in the day if you had nothing to calibrate to? On one crappy sub floor the plywood had so many little slivers the board would not slide well. The addition had screws to the joists in addition to nails. The rays of light were small, but they were enough to be a real nuisance.
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