What can I put on top of floor boards, before carpet is laid.

[Will DIY]

Yesterday I had my carpenter put in a new floor board in the upstairs hall. I pre-warned him pipes were underneath and we had a bit of banter about how I would like to learn more about carpentry etc 5 minutes later he comes down to tell me he's hit a pipe... 45 minutes of sitting with my thumb on the hole and my plumber came to the rescue to drain the system (pressurised system - I now know how) and repair the pipe.

During all of this it was discovered that the pipes are in some places, almost supporting the boards! There is one board in particular that bounces..... and I fear too much weight would one day cause another problem.

Anyway, I want to put a sheet of something down over a few boards to spread the weight before I get the carpet laid. Would 6mm MDF be OK or should I use different material? Advice regarding this appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Doggit]

I'd be inclined to deal with the floorboard problem first, by lifting the questionable floorboards, and nailing in some notched 2x1 wood that is wide enough to just go under the boards either side of the dodgy board to support the floating floorboards. Then screw the floorboards down to the blocks you've just put in.

It may well be that you're plumbers got to do a bit of pipe re-arranging beforehand, but it'll same a lot of problems in the future. Once the floorboards are secure, then you use hardboard with 20mm ringshank nails to level a wooden floor. In you're case, as floors tend to get liquid spilled on them, MDF would be the worse thing to use. Think along the lines of 5.5mm plywood and the ringshank nails that aren't too long to go through the floorboards.

 

[chappers]

just drop the notches a little deeper under the pipes so the board isn't resting on the pipe, relay the board and underlay and carpet