Replacing a section of the subfloor

[Don White]

Hi,

I am about to undertake replacing a section of the subfloor, approximately 4' by 4', due to water damage.  The floor is soft, and the tiles are cracked.  The section is between the kitchen sink and fridge.  in looking at the sales brochure it says the floor is made up of 2 layers of Dyna span flooring with a sound deadening material between them.

Can anyone tell me what the thickness of the Dyna span flooring is and what a suitable replacement material would be, marine grade plywood?  I would like to have it available before I start removing the tile subfloor.

Thanks in advance for any information.

[David T. Richelderfer]

Dyna-Span is a trademark name for Dyna-Bilt's OSB (Oriented Strand Board) that is made to size specifications for customers who purchase large volumes of it.  OSB is available at most firms that sell to home remodeling and home-building contractors.   I believe it can be purchased in the same sizes (4' x 8' x various thicknesses) as compared to various grades of plywood.  Marine grade plywood would work nicely but it is likely more expensive than OSB (my guess).  Wondering... can whatever you choose to install be pre-treated to repel moisture?

https://www.dyna-bilt.com/products/dyna-span

[Jerry Carr]

I never had to replace flooring in my 06 PT but did in our 02 Monaco they did use OSB very thick as I recall this OSB was 2 inch thick but you could layuer it with a good glue between. I would suggest that you drill a 1" hole to verify you thickness a 1" hole will allow you to get a tape measure in. Our 02 had water damage and the OSB floor did swell but the repair did work our fine.

[Carl Boger]

Don,

Are you just going to remove the broken tiles or are you going to replace the tile floor with something else? 

In my MH I replaced my tile for the same reason, water damage and cracked tiles.  I found a prior owner had really botched a earlier repair job and used a wet set tile motor which rotted out the osb under the tile.

I made the cuts so that they would be centered on the supports under the floor, and overlapped the seams of the 2 osb layers so there were no areas that were not supported.  I then covered it with LVT flooring.

Today I would probably just put 3/4 inch hardwood over 1 layer of OSB and put in electric radiant floor heating between the two. That would keep it stiff enough to walk on and add another heat source to boot.

Really there are many right ways to do this, Its not fun, but it is not near as bad as other jobs that have limited access.

[Eric Maclean]

Don
I can't speak to your 2006 as it was Monaco ized but in my 1997 the floor has a 1 1/2 inch aluminum frame work with white styrofoam bead board fitted between the framing on top of which is glued OSB I can't remember the thickness I think it was 7/16 inch
On top of that was an underlayment of 5 millimeters thick luan which the ceramic tile was later on in areas with out tile the underlay was not installed .
As mentioned above drill a hole to see how the floor is laminated together.

Caution
In the kitchen area check under the cabinets under the fridge as in my coach there is a wire chase which runs under the floor from under the fridge over to the cabinets on the other side of the coach.

Hope this helps
Eric

[Carl Boger]

Don,

An oscillating tool can be your best friend in a situation like this.  I used to consider them gimmicks, but they do have their place.  You can plunge cut and take out one layer at a time.  They make this job much easier.

[Don White]

Just want to close this thread out.  Per the diagram I included in the initial post the subfloor is made up of 2 layers of engineered wood with a sound deadening layer between them. Each layer is 1/2 inch thick.  I lucked out in that the sound deadening layer is a rubberized material/fabric that prevented the water leaking from the water dispenser/ice maker in the refrig from migrating to the second layer of subflooring. As a result I only had to replace the top layer.  Some days your lucky...

Thanks to everyone who chimed in with help.