Yuck particleboard. You have my sympathy. We just went through the exact same thing. We took bids from several flooring co's and contractors. In our opinion, the best solution was the following, and that's what we did. The floor planks are just now being installed and look great: 1. Remove the particleboard using a skilsaw and crowbar. Also remove any felt/paper below it. This took 2 guys less than an hour per 100 square feet. 2. If your subfloor is less than 5/8" plywood, add an additional layer of 5/8" CD/X plywood. Lay it down in the opposite direction of the existing subfloor, glue and screw it, probably into the joists (ask someone about that). We used exterior fir plywood, not advantech or OSB or interior underlayment. This took 2 guys about 3 days to do 1000+ square feet. 3. Install the hardwood planks the standard way. Our contractor said no need for any vapor barrier, for us. I get the idea from experts that paper may have been more useful back when subfloor was 1x6 boards -- it would have given a smoother installation surface and also prevented dust from falling through the floor into whatever was below it. I personally hate particleboard so I advocate removing it. The time-consuming aspects of the overall job are installing the additional plywood and the floor planks -- removing the particleboard is comparatively not much work. If you leave it in, you will have to put at least 5/8" ply on top to conform to wood floor manufacturers' warranty requirements. And that will lower your ceiling height, which may be an issue if you're in a 1960s/70s era house. Plus, a particleboard sandwich on ply just doesn't seem very stable (or nutritious). I'm no expert but I trust my contractor and he has a pristine reputation. Hope this helps!

Gregmills, thank you for replying to my post. In 2009, I had several installers take moisture readings and my floor was dry. BUT since 2009, I had the water damage from the water heater on 3-20-13 which damaged the 5" wide BR-111 Brazilian Cherry engineered wood floors which have not been removed and are over the Floor Muffler Ultra pad that they were floated on. I had to buy area rugs as the planks had cracked and lifted. I was waiting to have the insurance claim settled first before removing the floors. My little 6 lb Maltese got her foot caught costing me over $300 with the vet bill, X-rays and pain medicine. Thankfully nothing was broken when she was running and got her foot caught in the floor and was whimpering and carrying on. That is why I bought the inexpensive temporary small area rugs to cover many of the damaged areas until the insurance company settled with me. I had chosen to install the same Brazilian Cherry Wood but now sold directly by Triangulo to stores rather than first sold to BR-111. I just want to change my width to 3.25" from 5". I would prefer a floating floor again as it felt like a solid wood floor but was not so hard on my feet. The store had bought a large lot of 3" Solid Indusparquet Brazilian Cherry Hardwood so can give me a very good price on installing the solid wood by gluing it down using SIKA 2. I did look this product up and they are saying 3/4" solid hardwood can be glued directly to the concrete since it has a moisture barrier and good holding power but flexible. I did call the manufacture of this wood today and Indusparquet will not warranty the solid wood unless it is nailed to plywood floors. I have get to go to the store to discuss the estimate he prepared for me but I am feeling I need to tell him that I really prefer the 3.25" engineered wood downstairs and upstairs. In the summer time, the air conditioner keeps the humidity level down and the house is maintained at 36 - 40% humidity. In the winter time, the dry air is a problem with my forced hot air heat. I used humidifiers downstairs in the day time in my home office and upstairs at night. I have never had a problem with the 5" engineered wood floors until the water damage so I feel I am OK with the engineered wood floors. But when I go upstairs at night, it is very dry and I have to run the humidifiers on a long time to make my bedroom humid enough so I do not get nose bleeds. This is what I am afraid of with the solid wood. I am also afraid of the install failing downstairs where the concrete floor is not flat/level. I filled the large cracks I found when the carpet was removed in 2009 before the installer arrived to install the floor. I will not use him again as he told me to use 2 less boxes so I changed my order and we ran out of wood and he never came back to finish the job when the wood arrived. I want someone to do the full job and charge me extra for moving the heavy cabinets. I have bought so many stackable crates since I will empty them. I have called moving companies to get prices and in case a store does not want to move the cabinets into my garage themselves and to put them back on the floors.

Thanks for the responses: Jerry t--I have been quoted about 1400 (roughly) total sq feet, and it is our home. The $9000 quote for simply removing particle board then replacing with plywood was only one aspect of a very high estimate. I think that what we may end up doing is pulling up the particle board ourselves and either paying the installer or having my husband put down the plywood. I am just not comfortable having the flooring installed over just the subfloor. I don't believe the subfloor is 3/4" anyway and that just makes it worse in my opinion! Floorguy, the plywood simply looks like a 4x4 sheet (or something approximating those dimensions); I see no indication that there is T & G by looking at it.

Woahhhhhhh! >>I ordered plywood in all wet areas, which didn't happen, soft=close drawers weren't installed, etc. So you've paid a premium for plywood cabs, yet are willing to settle for veneered particle board cabines and all you're worried about is some inconsequential corner detail? In what world is this even remotely ok? If you don't have this stuff ripped out and done as you ordered it, IMHO, you're 1) nuts 2) wasting time and money on a consultant who is right 3) reliquenish any right to complain later when it swells and falls apart, 'cause they're sure not gonna fix it. 4) lets this company get away, probably again, with producing crap and wearing people down and most importantly, you 5) will always, always be disappointed. You'll be saying, "Yes, it's nice but.." for the rest of your life. I'm sure they count on your DH's attitude of "just get this done". It saves them money, time and materials. I wonder if they just plain sent out the wrong cabinets, since you say your ordered plywood. They've got a 50/50 that you'll let it slide. I wouldn't tolerate this for a minute. If your ordered hardwood floors and they put in a laminate, would you just let it slide just to be done with it? ... ? Let them get by with their "oops, my bad. Here's $50. Shut-the-f-up & live with it." Sorry. I'm mad for you and kind if disgusted with this kind of thing these days. What's a couple of weeks to get this right and what you paid for, in the face of junk for the rest of your home ownership? I'd tell my husband to suck it up and count his blessings. Pray that's the worst inconvenience you guys ever face in your lives, because if it is you're very lucky. Don't accept bad quality. It perpetuates this service and unacceptable "ok for now" crazy talk. Remember: You're not being demanding, you're demanding what you paid for. And they haven't delivered.