Uneven chipboard floor + engineered floring

[oπo]

Hi,

After lifting the carpet in one of my rooms and whilst the skirting still up I have noticed that I have two dips in the chipboard sub-floor. See picture attached.

The engineered wooden floor can take 3mm variations but this is much more (10mm+ at the lowest level)

Is there is any way to level the chipboard floor ?

I was contemplating to lift the whole floor but it is well beyond my capabilities.

Any ideas for some self leveling compound applicable to chipboard ? Would this be a cowboy job ?
Thanks
oπo

 

[bobasd]

which floor is this - gf/1's f ?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

It is common in commercial environments to do just this. You can apply SLC to chipboad sub-flooring, although it normally only give you up to 5 or 10mm build per coat, so you'd need to find one which can be built-up deeper, or in 2 passes. F Ball Stopgap, or example, can do the job in one pass and is suitable for use on absorbent flooring such as chipboard.

 

[oπo]

which floor is this - gf/1's f ?

1st floor (unfortunately)

oπo

 

[oπo]

It is common in commercial environments to do just this. You can apply SLC to chipboad sub-flooring, although it normally only give you up to 5 or 10mm build per coat, so you'd need to find one which can be built-up deeper, or in 2 passes. F Ball Stopgap, or example, can do the job in one pass and is suitable for use on absorbent flooring such as chipboard.

Thank you!
Any opinion of the Mapei products ? Seems they are also good for chipboard.

oπo

 

[bobasd]

do you think its still moving?
any cracks anywhere in your house inside or outside?
has any building work taken place below - ie a lintel and knock-through?
how old is the house?
is that wall an outside wall? or is that wall a stud partition?

 

[oπo]

No I don't think it is moving.
No building work has taken place below.
House is ~30y old.
No cracks outside or inside.
The wall I'm showing is a stud partition
I've checked in the other rooms and the floors are not level. The carpets are hiding the imperfections though.

Thanks
oπo

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Any opinion of the Mapei products ? Seems they are also good for chipboard.

No opinions about any of this stuff one way or the other, TBH. I'm a joiner, not a flooring layer, so my experience is mainly in supplying those guys with a level, stable sub-floor. They tend to have to use the high build stuff where we are connecting to existing floors of dubious "levellness" and/or to provide some form of transition. I've seen the F Ball stuff used recently, hence my ability to recall the name. I have used Mapei floor sealants to provide vapour barriers on concrete floors where I was laying down solid oak flooring over the top and I was impressed both by the thoroughness (and helpfulness) of their technical department and by the quality of service we received from the local distributor. The product worked, but then so do pretty much all of the products from the big names (e.g. Bal, F Ball, Ardex and Mapei) as long as the products are correctly selected and properly applied.

I think I understand Bob's concerns. In order for these products to work the floor must be in good order (i.e. no open joints, poor quality repairs, rough patches, etc), clean of contaminants and dirt, stable (not subject to movement), dry and not subject to damp ingress (although that can be dealt with by first applying a compatible liquid DPM - always from the same manufacturer - and it isn't a bad idea in any case to always put down a liquid DPM before laying new flooring if there are any concerns about damp), etc. If in doubt talk it through with the supplier (ideally a flooring company with their own fitters or the manufacturers technical department before making a purchase