For the past seven years, Floor Covering Installer has been publishing its annual Underlayment and Subfloor Preparation Reference Guide, and it remains to this day one of our most popular issues. After all these issues, you might think we would run out of underlayment-related issues to cover, but that is hardly the case at all. It seems that there is never a shortage of problems related to improper underlayment and subfloor preparation, everything from concrete issues to moisture testing. These are particularly important subjects for installers, as many installation failures are the result of improper subfloor preparation.

In this edition of our annual guide, we once again bring you the latest information on subfloor preparation from our roster of seasoned industry experts. Columnist Mickey Moore tackles the common problem of noisy wood floors, which are often caused by subfloor-related issues such as loose connections between the supporting joists and subflooring, as well as fastener movement caused by use of certain types of subfloor products. On the subject of subfloors, columnist Jon Namba offers an in-depth primer on the types of subfloors and how they affect the different types of flooring to be installed over them. As always, Jon manages to take a complex subjects such as building codes and deflection formulas and make them easily understandable for everyone, making this a must-read article. Ray Thompson explains the details of working with self-leveling underlayments in the latest installment of his “Resilient Installation Corner” column.

Also dealing with resilient flooring, columnist Christopher Capobianco answers questions on subfloor preparation in the latest installment of “Let’s Talk Resilient,” which has now been running in FCI for seven years as of this special issue. A special thank you to Christopher for all the excellent columns he has written for us, and for devoting so much of his time and energy to educating installers everywhere.

These articles are only a few highlights of this information-packed issue, so be sure to check out all our features, columns, products, news, and a special underlayment reference guide to help installers find the underlayment and subfloor preparation products they need quickly and easily. If you don’t find the topic you’re looking for in this year’s guide, it’s likely been covered in a previous version, all of which can be found online at www.fcimag.com. If there are subjects that you would like to see covered in a future issue, or if you have any questions, feel free to email me your suggestions.