Might need a pro for this question on subfloor

[boisegirl]

Okay, so I may totally have my verbiage off, and may be asking a few too many questions here, but here goes:

We have ripped out the carpet, tack strips, padding, and staples in the bonus room above the garage. We were planning to lay down bamboo, but since this is just the bonus room, and the real stuff costs so much, we will probably do laminate up there and on the stairs and the real stuff in the hallway. Any suggestions on doing stairs, brands of bamboo laminate, or the underlayment to help reduce the noise of walking, and also the noise of the garage would be appreciated.

When we got the baseboards off, we also noticed that there is a significant gap between the wall and the subfloor that opens into the attic. Do we need to do anything here to help with insulation, or anything?

So, the real question is this - there were a few "rises" that I noticed when I was pulling up the padding, and I actually stepped on either a nail or screw (I think it is a screw) tip that was coming up through the floor. I have googled this to no end, but haven't found anything like this. It seems that the screws are coming from the garage ceiling or somewhere in between and were too long, although I don't see them from below. My husband didn't want to grind the screws, he wanted to do nothing, or hammer them back down, but I don't agree with either "solution". What should we do? There is the one that is sticking up, but most have just split the plywood. So we have to figure out how to remedy the screws, and then fix the plywood. I have laid laminate before, but it was on concrete and fairly straight forward. I thought that this would be easier since I wasn't dealing with tack strips in concrete. My husband thinks that if we just get enough underlayment that that will cushion the rises and screws, and the guy at the "home improvement" store had never heard of this and said that we need "fix" them. Very helpful...

[Jerry Thomas]

Could take a grinder, multimaster or sawsall and cut them off flush. Sounds like you have plumbing lines. HVAC, TV cable, phone line, etc. directly underneath.

[boisegirl]

Thanks. I'm not familiar with a multimaster, but do I need to worry about sparks with the grinder? As there is about 1/8-1/4 of screw sticking out, I don't know if a sawsall could get the right angle.
Should I then use the grinder on the "rises" as a sander to make it level and get any screw tip off, as the tip is still hidden under the plywood, or do I need to sand separately?

[Barry Carlton]

When I encounter this, and for some reason it happens regularly in Boise, I break off the long screws. They usually snap really easily.

b

[kwfloors]

I would grind them or snap them off by hitting them sideways with a hammer. A dremel with a cutoff wheel would throw less sparks. A multimaster would work too but thats a $400 tool.

[Floorguy]

I use my angle grinder with a diamond blade, for stuff like that.

[Barry Carlton]

For a DIY'er, the shorter ones that won't snap off can be cut off with a pair of dikes (a type of wire cutter).

b

[boisegirl]

You guys are awesome, thanks. But what about the ones that are under the raised plywood? Should I rip off the raised plywood and dig them out, then sand the plywood and use filler to get it plane? Any filler favorites?

[Nick Arrera]

Not going to hurt anything if they are under the surface .

Don't want to bang then down either or you will be patching the ceiling underneath .

[BrianM]

boisegirl said You guys are awesome, thanks. But what about the ones that are under the raised plywood? Should I rip off the raised plywood and dig them out, then sand the plywood and use filler to get it plane? Any filler favorites?

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If the plywood is raised up creating a bump that would affect the laminate then you'll have to cut into the wood JUST ENOUGH with the angle grinder to cut the metal. That's going to be necessary especially if you subsequently need to plane or sand down those high spots. I think you said your husband wanted to lump right over everything thinking the cushion would absorb the imperfections. That leads me to believe these are pretty minor issues. For wood or laminates I would fill any low spots with Webcrete 95 or Armstrong Patch and Skimcoat (that's what our Home Depot carries) You'll have to work VERY fast with these products as they are designed to blow off faster than you can get them out of the bucket. I know that sounds stupid but you'll find out what I'm talking about when you mix them up.