Can I Level Wood Floors With Leveling Compounds?

Small Dips

• When small dips or slopes appear in a wood floor, you may be able to successfully fill these spots with leveling compound, such as wood filler. Apply wood filler to the dips or slight slopes in the floor with a putty knife and drag the putty knife’s edge, or a straightedge, across the area that you filled to remove extra compound from the floor’s surface. Once the filler dries, sand the filled area with fine-grit sandpaper until the filler sits level with the floor's surface, and pick up sanding dust with a tack cloth.

Large Slopes

• Trying to fill a large sloped area of a wood floor with leveling compound won’t provide a stable enough surface to support furniture and other items in the room, or to support the installation of flooring. When large slopes occur in a wood floor, the issue generally stems from shifting in the joists. To repair this sloping, you must get beneath the floorboards by cutting into the boards with a circular saw set to the same depth as the boards, and then prying the boards up with the hammer. Then, make repairs directly to the joists.

Repair Joists

• When it comes to repairing sloping in joists, you may use one of two methods. The first way to level a sloping joist is to sand it down at the end where it sits higher, though you should use this technique only in instances of slight sloping or when the joist won't sit at the same level as the other floor joists. The better repair option is to cut a piece of wood to add to the top of the joist to level out the surface, which ensures that it sits as high as the other joists.

Moving Joists

• Joists that have detached from the perimeter of a room due to corrosion of the screws create dangerous and unstable situations. Instead of simply building the joists back up so they sit level, you should reattach the joists to the wood frame around the room’s perimeter. Do this by cutting through the remaining screws that secure the joists to the room's perimeter with a hacksaw, then lifting the ends of the joists so they sit even with the other joists. Secure the joists back to the wood frame with joist hangers.