Best Materials To Use As Sub Flooring

Plywood is the best subfloor for hardwood flooring installation.

Best materials to use as sub flooring. Plywood has been a standard subfloor material since the 1950s and remains the preferred subflooring for many builders. Certain types of subflooring known as resilient flooring are good for rooms that will not be exposed to a lot of moisture like living rooms kitchens and bedrooms. Laminate carpeting and vinyl flooring can be installed over a variety of subfloor materials including wood and concrete. Plywood is made from glued thin strips of wood veneer called plies that are layered at alternating 90 degree angles and placed in a hot press.

These types of flooring include hardboard particleboard osb and plywood. Standard plywood can be used for subfloors but a better material is 3 4 inch tongue and groove plywood subflooring. The resulting cross laminated and layered material. Of the two most common subfloor materials builders often debate which is best.

Cdx plywood ranging from 1 2 to 3 4 inch thick and rated a c will serve well for any hardwood flooring installation. Tongue and groove plywood is available to reduce squeaks and help the subfloor fit together better. Plywood is familiar to most people it is a sheet material made from layers of wood oriented in opposite directions from layer to layer.