Solidifying the Subfloor

This project needed a lot of subfloor—much of the original was shot, and hadn’t been installed with glue, so squeaks were heard everywhere. Owens Construction's Bill Owens' choice was AdvanTech’s subfloor sheathing system from Huber Engineered Woods.

“I like how precise the product is with their tongues and grooves," says Owens, "and the 500-day no sanding guarantee means it can stand up to months of moisture if we needed it to, because their water-resistant resin goes all the way through. It's not just a topcoat." 

He isn’t about to test the guarantee, though, since they're on a tight timeline and about to move onto the walls and roofing. But first, AdvanTech’s proprietary foam gel polyurethane adhesive went down on the joists.

“I like the fact it can go down at temps from 20°F to 105°F, and it adheres to wet or frozen wood," says Owens. "Not many products do that.”

The team's carpenter first tacked panels in place by hand, then got out the coil nailer to make short work of the task of getting the subfloor firmly adhered. Side note: I can speak to how tenacious this glue is, having accidentally put my hand in some in the Huber booth at a trade show in Providence, R.I.—it took me 15 minutes to get it completely off!