No one wants uneven floors. Whether you’re finally getting round to those renovations you’ve been planning forever, or you’ve just moved into your new home and discovered the flooring’s wonky, uneven floors can spell disaster. Not only are they noticeable to the eye, but they can also cause damage to you, your family and guests, your furniture and your home’s market value! That’s why floorboard levelling is one of the jobs the team here at Derwenthorpe Flooring ends up doing the most.
In older builds, like many of the homes we visit in our native Yorkshire, uneven floors are a common problem, caused by the warping of materials and settling of foundations over time. And with hardwood floors back in style, we get it: you want to get your floorboards level so you can enjoy that gorgeous wood look without any issues.
Floorboard levelling is not a task generally recommended for DIYers. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the common risks and causes of uneven flooring, what professional levelling involves, and when expert intervention is required—insights gathered from my and my colleague’s 40+ years of combined experience in award-winning floor-fitting.
Contents:
- Why unlevel flooring occurs
- The risks and dangers of unlevel flooring
- Floorboard levelling: A DIY job or one for the professionals?
- A look at the process behind levelling floorboards
- Conclusion: Taking the next steps to fix your floors
Why unlevel flooring occurs
Before we get started on levelling those floors of yours, it’s worth finding out why they became unlevel in the first place. There are lots of reasons a floor might start to slope or dip, and determining the specific cause of that subsidence is always our first port of call on any home callout—because once we know why the floor became unlevel, we’ll have a much clearer idea of how to fix the problem for the long run.
Here’s a look at some of the most common causes of unlevel flooring we come across in Yorkshire homes and flats:
- Damage in the subfloor: The most common cause of uneven flooring we come across is damage to the subfloor. Subfloors can be easily damaged over time by water ingress and moisture, as well as heat warping (improperly installed underfloor heating can cause even sturdy subfloors to warp).
- Irregularities in the subfloor: Similarly, irregularities in the subfloor caused by poor installation, historic patch repairs, and the like can result in unlevel flooring above.
- Natural settling: As your home ages, it is common for the foundation to shift or sink. Major sinking is known as subsidence and is a particular problem in parts of Britain synonymous with mining—like Yorkshire, Lancashire, South Wales and Central Scotland—since many historic homes and townhouses were built atop old mines.
- High foot-traffic: Less common but still possible are the effects of ‘high traffic’ in specific parts of the home. For example, if your oven, fridge and washing machine are all situated in one corner of the kitchen—meaning there’s excess weight there, as well as more foot traffic from you and your family—you may see imbalances in the floor level start in that part of the room.
The risks and dangers of unlevel flooring
Unlevel floors aren’t just an aesthetic issue, either. Whilst they’re not great on the eyes, they can also lead to some genuine safety concerns and expensive trips to the repairman if left untreated. Here’s a look at some of the risks of leaving your floors unlevel:
- Unlevel floors are unsightly and can drag down house value: As we’ve already mentioned, uneven floors aren’t nice to look at. Worse than this, though, is the impact they can have on your property’s market value. Sloping floors are a sign to potential buyers that there could be expensive underlying problems they’ll have to deal with further down the line, which could ultimately drive down the price they’re willing to pay for your home.
- Unlevel floors increase the chances of trips and falls: Unevenness in flooring can also lead to the potential for trips and falls, especially in households with young children and/or older occupants.
- Unlevel floors can place undue stress on furniture and flooring: Your furniture can suffer from uneven flooring, too. Furnishings placed on uneven floors may wobble, wear quicker than advertised, or worse: break completely. A refrigerator placed on uneven flooring, for example, may not drain correctly, leading to food waste and costly repairs.
- Unlevel floors may speed up wear and tear: Once a floor loses level, it will naturally start to wear quicker than it would have if the level were maintained, because the balance of pressure and weight across an unlevel floor becomes uneven. An unlevel floor that’s left unfixed will inevitably require replacing sooner rather than later.
- Unlevel floors can lead to expensive repair costs over time: Similarly, the longer you leave your floors unlevel, the more expensive the repair job is likely to be once you finally get round to it. Want our advice? Levelling a floor is best done as soon as you spot the problem!
Floorboard levelling: A DIY job or one for the professionals?
It’s always tempting to approach home renovations yourself. Taking a DIY approach is often not only cheaper than hiring contractors, but more satisfying, too, since it’s your own hard graft you’ve got to thank for the repairs or redecorations. When it comes to floorboard levelling, however, I would highly recommend you avoid doing it DIY.
Damage or irregularities to your floors and subfloors is serious business, especially if you live in an apartment with other homes below you, or an old house whose foundations may have shifted over time. Not only could you put yourself in danger trying to tackle floor levelling on your own, but the chances of you causing further damage or unevenness to the flooring are high.
The cost of hiring flooring professionals to assess and fix unlevel floors is guaranteed to be lower than the stress, safety concerns, and future repair costs of doing a botched DIY job.
A look at the process behind levelling floorboards
Myself (Chris) and my colleague Anthony have been installing, assessing and repairing floors since we left school, and have accrued over 40 years of experience in the local Yorkshire trade since.
We’ve been called out to assess unlevel floors more times than we can count, so by now we know exactly what has to happen to bring those floors back level and leave our customers smiling.
Here’s a brief look at some of the most common types of unlevel floors we’re asked to assess, and how we might approach each scenario.
Levelling wooden floorboards
Old wooden floorboards are a luxury in many homes, and have become a popular interior design aesthetic in the last few years. The problem is that as wood ages—especially if it’s not cared for correctly—it becomes susceptible to rot, warping, and joists shifting due to settling foundations.
In order to relevel a traditional wooden floor, it’s necessary to pull up the floorboards and assess the foundation situation beneath. Often, we’re met with bulging or displaced joists, which can only be saved by sistering new joists to them.
We have to be especially careful here in apartments with only plasterboard separating your home and the home below you.
In truth, the job of levelling old wooden floorboards can be pretty extensive, costly and lengthy. We tend to find that our customers are more satisfied with the easier and more affordable option of overlaying the old floorboards with brand-new engineered wood or click-vinyl flooring, both of which mimic the look and feel of real hardwood without requiring the same intense maintenance. To do this, we’d first install a layer of plywood as a level subfloor, before installing the new floors.
Levelling concrete subfloors
Concrete is a little less susceptible to shifting and wear than wood, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t seen our fair share of uneven concrete subfloors in our time.
In order to level a sloping or uneven concrete subfloor, you’ve got two options.
Either you can use a heavy-duty grinder to grind down the higher points of the subfloor to achieve a better level, before pouring a latex-based self-levelling compound over the treated subfloor. Once the compound is set (usually after 4-6 hours), we would then be able to relay your preferred flooring material atop the concrete for a truly level finish.
Levelling carpeted floors
If you’ve got a carpeted floor that feels unlevel or is clearly uneven, the type of repair we’d recommend would depend on what lies beneath. The carpet may have been laid atop old floorboards—in which case we’re back to assessing the condition of the joists—or atop concrete.
The key trick with laying level carpeting is to get the underlay right. Whilst you technically can lay carpet directly atop concrete or wood, the chances of it becoming unlevel again in future are higher than if you prep the floor with quality underlay.
Conclusion: Taking the next steps to fix your floors
Trust us, we understand just how frustrating unlevel flooring can be. Especially if you’ve just moved into a new home, only to discover that the floors are a mess. The good news is that a fix doesn’t have to mean tearing up the floor completely, grinding concrete or painstakingly sistering new joists to old.
In fact, our customers’ preferred method for levelling a floor is to have us overlay the existing issue with a leveller (be that latex compound or plywood) before installing some gorgeous new carpet, vinyl/LVT, laminate flooring or engineered wood floorboards.
As the old saying goes, “Think smarter, not harder.” If you’ve got wonky floors that need fixing, don’t stress about the cost or the disruption, just give us award-winning Yorkshire specialists, Derwenthorpe Flooring, a call, and we can chat through your options to find a solution designed specifically for you.
