Addressing Gaps and Unevenness in Floorboards through Overboarding with Plywood
If your floorboards are exhibiting gaps and uneven surfaces, a highly effective solution is to overboard them with high-quality plywood. This approach not only simplifies the renovation process but also ensures a smooth, unified surface, eliminating the need to remove your existing floorboards entirely. Once the surface has been overboarded with plywood, you can confidently proceed with installing your chosen floor covering or applying a self-levelling compound for a flawless finish.
Suitable Floor Types for Overboarding
For wooden floors featuring tongue and groove floorboards, such as the example pictured on the left, overboarding with plywood is particularly advantageous before applying self-levelling compounds or other floor coverings. This method effectively addresses two critical issues:
- Leakage Prevention: Overboarding creates a continuous barrier that minimizes the risk of liquids seeping through gaps between floorboards.
- Subfloor Stability: It reduces movement and flexing in the underlying structure, providing a more stable base for your new floor.
This approach is especially important when working on suspended timber floors, like those on the first floor of a building, or in areas such as upstairs bathrooms.
Benefits of Overboarding with Plywood
Overboarding with plywood significantly reduces the number of joints across the floor surface, which in turn lowers the likelihood of leaks and movement issues. Plywood sheets are typically manufactured in standard dimensions of 1220mm x 2440mm. For smaller spaces like a bathroom, only two or three sheets are necessary, resulting in only a few joints compared to the numerous seams created by traditional timber floorboards.
Using 6mm thick plywood is often ideal because it adds minimal height to the existing floor while effectively bridging small gaps and level differences between the original floorboards or flooring sheets. If your existing chipboard or flooring sheets have been installed neatly with no visible gaps or steps, overboarding may not be necessary before applying a self-levelling compound. In such cases, ensure you use a latex-mixed self-levelling compound to prevent moisture absorption, which can cause expansion of the chipboard if water-based compounds are used.
Additional Resources
If you wish to explore the detailed process of how to properly overboard floorboards, including step-by-step guidance and tips, please refer to our comprehensive article on “How to Ply over Floorboards”.