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Installing hardwood over existing hardwood

7 years ago

I will be changing my hardwood floors and was wondering if anyone has ever installed on top of existing hardwood. There are no creaks in the existing floor and no movement. I am nervous about the fact, when installing, hitting an existing nail. As it stands, install as is, is the height I want. If I take out I have to put down plywood or OSB anyways. Just looking to keep the cost down. Thanks.

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Comments (3)

PRO
Cancork Floor Inc.
7 years ago
The answer could be "Yes". It could be "No" or it could be "maybe...it depends".

The trick with this is that new hardwood does not like sitting over top of OLD finishes...like polyurethane. And new hardwood needs FLAT. So the chances are VERY high that you need to SAND DOWN your old hardwoods (to remove the finish AND to flatten any obvious areas of concern). That should cost you $2/sf.

Now the fun part...getting patch down where it is needed. It is possible but old hardwoods don't normally like to have concrete patch put down on them. They can. But they aren't fond of it. The cement patch often cracks and disintegrates as those old floors move. You will still need patch = $1/sf (on the LOW end).

The other fun thing is: you probably have to install the floors perpendicular to the old floors....which will be AGAINST the installation instructions/warranty (most hardwoods must be installed perpendicular to the joists...which would be your OLD hardwoods...but the NEW one's would be perpendicular to THOSE = parallel to your joists = against all "Best Practices").

The way around this = DIAGONAL (lay it at a 45deg. angle). This should increase your WASTE into the 15% range = 15% more expensive than anticipated.

So if you add up all the "trouble" you will go to, you will be paying about the same or MORE to do this. Of course you could throw down some plywood over top the old hardwood = go ahead as a normal install. But that puts you too high---so your ONE option to do this "cheaply" is not on your list.

Go ahead and remove those old hardwoods (I'm assuming they are so OLD that they cannot be sanded and refinished). Lay new plywood and then install the new hardwood.

The cost to do this properly should add $2-$3/sf (labour and plywood included). If you do this the "cheater" way, it should cost you $2-$6/sf (that includes the diagonal install with extra waste) and lose you your warranty. After all that money for the hardwood and install, that would be a sad state of affairs.
Cookie8
Original Author
7 years ago
Yep. I knew there was a lot more to it. In reality, I will dealing with hitting something as the plywood will be screwed down (if I'm not paying close enough attention). We are going for a more expensive floor so I don't want to take chances and laying a different direction is an option I'm not fond of. Thanks so much. Guess I am tearing up a floor.
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I had the exact same issue. Initially they thought they could do it. But my house is old and when they did the demo they said the way they did the spacing of the supports under the wood on the older section cannot be duplicated today and the floor would never look even and the old section would always be a little higher and "squeaky". Ended up doing the whole floor. However, the hallways are old hardwood as well and the transition (via a doorway) seems fine.
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PRO
User
7 years ago
You could consider "engineered flooring", BUILDIRECT has a great variety of 7 layered plywood flooring with real wood veneers. They will ship you up to 5 free samples. The product is 1/2" thick, will conform to curves and will give you the hardwood look without all of the installation cost and effort.

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