I just bought a property with 1989 Silvercrest manufactured home. The home seems in a very good shape, on a concrete ribbon foundation with tie-downs, no cracks in the drywall, all in all very nice but needs some updating like floors, kitchen and bathrooms. I am pretty handy and love to work on projects, but this is my first close encounter with a manufactured home
)The floors are 3/4 inch high-density particle boards (I think the brand is Cressdeck) layed on 2x6 joists at 16 inch spacing. The Cressdeck is in great shape, no swelling or water damage from what I can tell.
I REALLY, REALLY would like to lay 3/4 inch solid oak floors, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to do this the best possible way. I have seen a couple of options discussed on various forums, and would love feedback from the experts:
1. Replace Cressdeck with 3/4 T&G plywood by cutting 1.5 inches from the walls, doubling up the 2x6 framing at cuts etc. I have seen some posts worried about this breaking the Cressdeck that was intended as one large slab for the lateral stiffness of the steel/wood flooring structure. Is this a concern in general? I would like to maintain the ability to move the home in the future.
2. Add 1/4 inch plywood on top of the Cressdeck, then nail hardwood as usual. This starts to create an issue with a higher floor, and some posts say to use minimum 1/2 inch plywood. I also need to get the old linolium glue off the Cressdeck first.
3. If the Cressdeck is in a good shape, screw it down firmly over the floor joists, then glue/nail hardwood on top. That does not really sound like a great idea to me. If the Cressdeck gets damaged in the future, I cannot salvage the hardwood then.
4. If Cressdeck is in a good shape, screw it down firmly over the floor joists, then install hardwood directly on top of Cressdeck (with underlayment), nailing into the Cressdeck and also through the Cressdeck and into the floor joists as well.
I have layed 3/4 inch hardwood floors before, and it seems like the 3/4 inch thick oak would be able to span the 16 inches between joists without really "needing" much support from the Cressdeck, so I am tempted to try option 4 so I do not have to ruin the original flooring "diaphragm" for lateral strength of the steel/joist/Cressdeck system.
On the other hand, there is linolium glue in many areas and I expect a lot of labor removing the glue from the Cressdeck, so in terms of labor it may be almost as easy to install plywood as in option 1.
Again, I really want to do it "RIGHT" as I plan to keep this home for a long time.
So happy I found this forum.
Thanks for your help, Hans