Thursday, October 13, 2005

Ask Glenn

Install underlayment before wood flooring

By Glenn Haege

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Dear Glenn: I am finishing off my basement as a family room. My wife and I would like to have a cabin-themed family room, so we are thinking about putting down a rustic wood floor, possibly 1-by-6 or 1-by-4 pine boards. Is this a workable idea?

Glenn

Springfield, Ill.

Dear Glenn: Never install a wood floor directly to a basement floor. You could put down something such as Cosella-Dorken Delta-FL membrane, an underlayment, and then your flooring. Cosella-Dorken also has a special Delta-FL system for laminate flooring.

You could probably find a laminate design that looks like pine planking. To learn more, call Cosella-Dorken at (888) 433-5824 or visit www.deltams.com.

Dear Glenn: My 83-year-old mother-in-law lives in Livonia and had a new concrete driveway poured last summer. Several large cracks appeared this summer. We called a contractor, and he said it is bad soil and there is nothing he could do.

The contractor has offered to repair it, but we have to pay if it cracks again. We called the city inspector, who said stress cracks are normal.

We don't think it is "normal" for the concrete to crack in less than a year. What do you suggest?

-- Mike, Royal Oak

Dear Mike: Unfortunately, the building inspector is correct: Concrete cracks. Most consumers buy concrete on a low-bid basis, and so the jobs go to the lowest (quality) bidder. This has driven many of the best people out of the business. It is terribly important to get and check references.

Ask Glenn; Ask Glenn Ask Glenn If you have a question, call the Handyman Show with Glenn Haege at (866) ASK GLENN. The show runs 8 a.m. - noon Saturday and 7 a.m. - 11 a.m. Sunday on WDFN-AM (1130) and more than 160 other station. To suggest a question for Haege's Thursday "Ask Glenn" column, write: Ask Glenn, Master Handyman Press, P.O. Box 1498, Royal Oak, MI 48068-1498, or e-mail askglenn @masterhandyman.com.