LESLIE: Flooring is the number one topic of question here at The Money Pit and we’ve got Bill in Florida joining in on that line. Bill, what can we do for you?
BILL: Hey, I love the show, by the way, first of all.
LESLIE: Thanks.
TOM: Thank you.
BILL: Yeah, I’m helping my friend build his house and we put the subflooring down and it’s plywood. It’s – let’s see here. It’s five-eights plywood.
TOM: OK.
BILL: We used liquid nails and (inaudible) on it. And we’re not going to get the things right in for a while and this is Florida and it’s wet, it’s dry, it gets cold now and it gets hot again the very next day and I was wondering what we needed to do for that; if we needed to coat it with something.
LESLIE: Hmm.
BILL: Because the plywood – already on one piece it’s kind of bubbled up on one area where the plywood is coming apart …
TOM: Well …
BILL: … and I believe it’s from the weathering. So …
TOM: Plywood is not designed to be left to the weather indefinitely, so you say …
LESLIE: Even if it’s CDX?
TOM: Well, if it’s CDX – it’s probably CDX, what he has – that means it’s C on one side, D on the other and exterior grade.
BILL: Right, right.
TOM: The adhesive is exterior grade but wood is wood and wood left unfinished …
BILL: Exactly.
TOM: … is going to be subjected to be deteriorated (ph) by the weather. But you know, you can’t – it would be improper to paint the floor or something of that nature. You might want to tarp it or put plastic sheeting down or something like that and try to keep it as dry as you can until you get it in; totally you get it totally dried in. I mean it’s designed to stay out in the weather for some period of time …
BILL: Right.
TOM: … but when you say you’re not going to get dried in for a while – I mean we’re not talking six months here – then you’re going to start having problems.
BILL: (chuckling) It’s possibly six months, as a matter of fact. (Leslie chuckles)
TOM: Well, what kind of fasteners did you use to attach it? Did you nail it or screw it?
BILL: We nailed it down.
TOM: Well, I’ll tell you what. I would …
LESLIE: You want to screw it down.
TOM: I would definitely screw it down because …
LESLIE: It’s going to keep it from moving far greater.
BILL: Right.
TOM: And you know what it’s going to do? It’s going to stop annoying floor squeaks that will pop up after like you get everything in. So while it’s wide open like this, I would rent myself a screw nailer. There’s these kind that you can basically – you don’t even have to bend over. They have a screw gun attachment and they just rapid-fire screws.
BILL: Right, I know what you’re talking about. OK.
TOM: Yep, and you just screw that whole thing down and I think you’ll be real happy if you do that.
BILL: OK, well what do you recommend for that part that’s kind of bubbled up? Should I – I mean like I said, I used liquid nails as well.
TOM: What I would do is this. I would ignore that for the time being …
BILL: OK.
TOM: … and when you’re ready – like when you’re getting close to being closing this in …
BILL: Right.
TOM: … I would – last thing; I would cut that piece out and replace it. But I wouldn’t do it now because – just let it wear.
BILL: (overlapping voices) OK, just take the piece out. Right, right. Well, OK. That answered my question, guys. Appreciate you.
TOM: You’re welcome, Bill. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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