Bryan Baeumler
Readers focus on floors and ask about squeaks, cold, cracks
Frigid weather doesn’t just leave cracks in your skin and emotional well-being. It does a good job of ripping up your flooring, too. “Humidity levels drop significantly in the winter due to the colder, denser air around us,” says Bryan Baeumler. “If you start to notice gaps opening up in your hardwood flooring, baseboard and trim, even cabinets, that’s a good sign your home is too dry. The humidity in your home should be between 35 to 40 per cent. Any lower and everything starts to shrink. Make sure you’re in the sweet spot by monitoring humidity levels, and installing a humidifier and dehumidifier.” Thankfully, the star of HGTV’s Leave it to Bryan and Canada’s Handyman Challenge has the advice you need to mend your winter wounds. This week, he answers Star readers’ questions on cracked concrete, popping planks and cold garage floors.
Hi, Bryan. We recently looked at a house (for sale) with the garage concrete pad full of gaping, crisscrossing, jagged cracks. The owners had moved everything out of the basement to the garage and would not move things in the garage for a better look. Also, the basement was newly finished and one wall had a double wall. So there was the concrete foundation exterior wall, and then another wall inside — with a space of over a foot between the two walls. The interior wall was the studs and framing and drywall. Why would this be done?
Cindy and Bob S., Toronto
Hi, Cindy and Bob. When it comes to the large cracks in the garage slab, I’ve seen it before. When concrete pads are poured, they have to be on either undisturbed soil or very well compacted backfill. When foundations are dug, there is often a lot of backfill that needs to be put back into the garage area around the foundation. If this backfill wasn’t compacted properly, it will eventually settle, sag and crack. There is a way to jack the slab back up into place if the damage is not too severe, called slab (or mud) jacking. A hole is drilled, and either a cement or foam mixture is pumped under the slab to raise it back into its original position. If the slab is too damaged, it may have to be replaced or a new slab poured over top of the original. Your best bet is to get a qualified concrete contractor in to take a look.
Down in the basement, perhaps the foundation wall isn’t straight and the wall was framed along the path of least resistance or there are obstacles such as corners or pilasters. Or it’s possible that your basement was finished by someone who didn’t have the knowledge or experience to finish it properly and maximize the space. We generally see anywhere from one to three inches of space behind the exterior framed walls depending on how straight and plumb the foundation walls are, but 12 inches and a double wall sounds excessive. It certainly warrants further investigation. Hello, Bryan: I’ve always liked natural pine tongue and groove. Last winter, I installed six-inch wide planks as flooring in a new high-traffic, heated main floor addition. The wood was provided by a lumber mill near Ottawa, milled late fall and properly acclimated. After installation, I stained and sealed it. All went well. Unfortunately, it has developed a “snap, crackle and pop” when walked on most areas. We don’t have air conditioning. It doesn’t appear to have too great of a “cup” on the individual planks and I used slightly longer spiral nails than recommended, just to be certain. The subfloor is stable and approximately 1.5 inches thick. Should I have glued it down to the subfloor? What can I do now?
Mark C., Toronto Hi, Mark. I’m also a big fan of pine T&G, but it comes with its own challenges. Noisy floors are challenging. Softwoods tend to expand and contract more than hardwood or engineered flooring, and every nail you put in is an opportunity for a squeak. The “snap crackle and pop” makes me think it’s coming more from the T&G joints and under the boards themselves rather than the fasteners. Even though you’ve sealed the floor on top, moisture is still free to come and go through the bottom of the floor — as the pine dries out, the holding power of those nails will be reduced and you might get some movement of the floor in those areas.
In my experience, the best way to avoid a noisy floor is to go with the full glue method and also use blind nails through the tongue. The full glue method essentially turns the entire assembly into an engineered floor that will ultimately be more stable than just nailing it down.
Try a few different methods in a smaller area of the floor and see what the results are. I live in eastern Ontario and the sump pump in my house runs about every 20 minutes. I have installed a battery backup system and would like to know what other preventative measures I can take to reduce the amount of time the sump pump runs.
Doug, Ingleside, Ont. Hey, Doug. There are a few possibilities I can think of — the most likely being a high water table in your area or a float that needs adjustment. The battery backup system is a great idea but your pump has a lifespan and the battery system won’t help if your pump quits.
An easy way to check the water table is to shut off the pump on a dry day and monitor the water level to see where it stabilizes. If the pit fills to within a few inches or less of the bottom of your basement slab, you’ll want to have a waterproofing contractor come in to investigate and come up with some solutions that could range anywhere from another weeping tile, to an exterior pumping and cistern system to take the hydrostatic pressure off your foundation. If there’s plenty of wiggle room between the bottom of your basement slab and the top of the water in your pit, a simple adjustment of the float on your pump should do the trick. I bought a house where the garage was converted to a family room that gets way colder than the rest of the house overnight. I believe they just tiled over the concrete garage floor, which has no basement below. What is the best way to insulate the floor keeping in mind the eight-foot ceilings?
Glenn S., Mississauga
Hi, Glenn. The first thing I would do is check whether the renovation had permits and was inspected. I’d follow that up with an HVAC inspection and look into how the exterior walls were insulated — you want to make sure it’s getting enough heat and there’s somewhere for that extra air to go. Garages are designed to be unheated spaces, so if or when they’re converted into indoor space, the exterior walls and ceiling must be properly insulated and a heat run/air return properly installed. There are also different rules and requirements for electrical work in living spaces.
The concrete slab basically acts as a heat sink — sucking the warmth from the room and dissipating it into the cooler and unheated soil below. Because it’s a ground level slab and not a basement slab, it will definitely be colder in the winter.
Removing the tile and installing an electric heat mat on the slab is one option if you plan to replace the tiles or put down an engineered or laminate floating floor. Your other option might be to install DRIcore panels on the floor and install carpet or hardwood on top. The DRIcore won’t actively warm up the floor like a heat mat, but it will give you a thermal break from the slab, therefore keeping the room warmer.
You could also frame and insulate the floor, but you’d lose some height and you’d still have to account for air flow and moisture coming out of the slab. Bryan Baeumler appears twice a month in New in Homes & Condos. He’s the host of Leave it to Bryan Mondays at 10 p.m. and House of Bryan: In the Sticks, both on HGTV Canada. Send your home repair questions for Bryan to Newhomes@thestar.ca with “Bryan” in the subject line. Contact him at baeumler.ca and on Twitter @Bryan_Baeumler.