LESLIE: Randy in Louisiana is on the line and needs some help with a flooring project. What’s going on?
RANDY: Flooring in my manufactured house is ¾ waferboard, which is plywood. Similar to it. I want to go back with ¾ plywood and I want something that’s waterproof. In case I had a water leak again, it wouldn’t happen like that again.
TOM: So you want to replace the waferboard subfloor in your home with ¾ plywood.
RANDY: Right.
TOM: So, plywood – all plywood today has exterior glue in it, so that’s not an issue. If you were to paint the plywood properly, which basically means that you would prime it and you would paint it, it can be somewhat water-resistant. You’re talking about just the occasional spill that could happen. As long as you clean the water up relatively quickly, like within a day or so, you’re not going to get any long-term damage as a result of that.
RANDY: Field mouse gnawed a plastic pipe into – on a hot-water line. He gnawed a hole in it and it was spraying straight up on the flooring.
TOM: Yeah. And if it’s going to be an ongoing thing like that that goes on for days, you’re going to have an issue. But the good news is it’s covered by insurance.
RANDY: Well, I’ve got an insurance claim but I’m going to fix it myself.
TOM: So, yeah, so you can cut that waferboard out and install plywood in its place.
RANDY: They don’t make a plywood that’s totally waterproof?
TOM: Well, you could buy marine plywood. It’s really expensive but it’s even more waterproof. But I think it’s overkill.
RANDY: OK. I might consider that.
TOM: But heck, what’s the chances of that breaking again like that, you know?
RANDY: Well, it was six years but that one mouse got in there and did the damage.
TOM: And did the damage, huh? Yeah, well, it’s good you got it covered by insurance.
Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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