Have you dealt with this: Stabilizing a front-load washing machine on an uneven floor.

[IndyOp]

I bought a washing machine this weekend -- at Sears, I hesitate to say after reading LiberalLiz's post on her nightmarish experience with Sears over her fridge... :(

The sales guy said I could stabilize the machine by putting a 3/4" piece of plywood on the floor where the machine was to be installed and screwing the plywood into the flooring and subflooring with long screws in a 4" x 4" grid pattern.

Has anyone here faced this issue before? What did you do? How did it work?

I know I need to stabilize the machine because front-loading washers really need a stable surface and my little house is a 1920 bungalow with noticeably "wavy" floors.

Thanks for any info you have! :hi:

[yy4me]

1. I'm sure you are aware that the feet on washing machines will

adjust with a twist of the threaded legs. Sometimes it is tighten one side, and loosen the other. Perhaps fore and aft or side to side. Mine tended to "dance" even though I did what I should so I put a very small section of about 2 inches of the waffle type rubber stuff that is used for rug pads under the legs. It seemed to help keep a grip on the wood. Talk about uneven floors, this old place was built about 1780 and I have learned how to shim just about everything. Good luck.

[IndyOp]

2. I went ahead and added the 3/4" plywood to the floor today - attached with 140 2" screws.

The purpose of this endeavor was to stabilize the floor -- to reduce the amount of "bounce".

The best place to put a front-loading machine is on a concrete basement floor. I have a concrete basement floor, but do not want to go down to my partially earthen basement to do laundry, so the washer and dryer are in the kitchen.

The kitchen was added to my 1920 bungalow sometime around 1950 and I joke that it was added by the ne'er do well son-in-law of someone who must've worked with the people who owned the house at the time. The kitchen has the crappy "foundation" one would expect of a kitchen 3/4's of which is actually an enclosed back porch. When I bought the house 3 years ago, I ripped down the 1950's paneling in the kitchen and found: studs. There was an aluminum-foil "weatherizing" barrier between the paneling and the studs, but absolutely no insulation in the walls.

The section of the kitchen where the new washer will go is the 1/4 of the room that contains the stairwell to the basement and the floor in that location is 1/2" wood suspended over dirt. The purpose of attaching the 3/4" plywood to the subflooring with a ridiculous number of screws is to stabilize the floor so there is much less bounce -- leveling of the washer will have to happen, too. And, eventually, I need to add some more supports under the floor to brace the joists to keep the floor from sagging (further).

Thanks for replying to my post, it is nice to commiserate with someone who has an old house.

:hi:

[yy4me]

3. Everyone should have an old house once in their life, gives

a completely new perspective on the do-it-yourself approach to everything. I too have a partially dirt cellar with an old stone foundation...but that is a story for another time. 2 sump pumps, roots through the foundation, you know what I'm talking about. Just what you need to spend your weekend doing.

[goddess40]

4. mine shakes the house, to the point the nails are popping on the drywall

The room it's in was designed to be a laundry room but the cheap ass builder didn't make any adjustments to the floor structure. So anyone with any ideas on how to shore up the floor after the fact I would greatly appreciate it. I do have access to the joists under the floor.

[yy4me]

5. I'd cut sisters to the existing joists and screw them in, then cut

2 x 4's or whatever size (4 x 6's?)you are using and run then top right to bottom left, then the opposite to make a big X cutting a notch so they will join. A few side to side pieces will tighten it up too. If your current joists are warped, use shims (wood shingles work well )between them and the floor to tighten the space. We always use screws, if you goof, it is easy to put that drill in reverse and re-do it.