We're thinking about raising our sunken living room, which is about half a foot lower than the main floor. We've received two types of quotes for the job. The first option is simple: they would lay a new subfloor on top of the existing floor with joists and plywood, and then add new flooring on top. The second option is more involved—they want to remove the current floor down to the subfloor, which is actually load-bearing and acts as the ceiling for the basement below. They claim that this method will provide better stability by properly connecting everything. The new framing would be laid perpendicular to the existing joists. For anyone who's done this before, what are your insights on these two approaches?
2 Answers
Honestly, you don't need to go through all that trouble. Just add new joists over the existing subfloor and block them between to stop any rotation. They'll need to be perpendicular to the old joists, and then you can put in your new subfloor without tearing everything out.
I just completed a similar project but my space was on a concrete slab. We tore everything out and built from scratch, which helped us address insulation properly and ended up being a solid solution.
Thanks for the tip! So we should remove the top layer of the hardwood floor first, right?