That 'wonderful' subfloor patch job came back to bite me in Seattle

Last month I did a job in Seattle where the homeowner had patched a bunch of soft spots with that cheap expanding foam and thin plywood. I should have flagged it before laying the carpet, but I was trying to keep the schedule moving. Three days after install, the homeowner walked across a seam and the whole section sank about an inch. I had to rip up 400 square feet of brand new carpet, fix the subfloor with proper 3/4 inch plywood and screws, and reinstall everything. That mistake ate my entire profit on the job, about $900. Has anyone else dealt with hidden subfloor damage that you wish you'd caught before the carpet went down? How do you check for that stuff without pulling up every inch of the old pad?

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annaw7329d ago

I started walking every square foot of the old pad with my boots on after a similar mess in Portland. You feel the soft spots through the carpet pad, but you gotta press hard with your heels. Also, I carry a cheap stud finder that reads thickness, and I run it across the whole floor before I lay anything down. That caught a rotten section under a bathroom corner last month, cost me an extra hour but saved a full redo. Now I tell customers straight up, if I find surprises, the price goes up before I cut a single piece.