Replacing Hardwood Floors - What To Expect

Given up on that old hardwood floor, thinking it has seen better days? Replacing your hardwood floors with new may not be a total demo job like you think, but will depend on Hardwood Floor With No Sub Floor several factors. Much older homes where the actual hardwood is the subfloor will require more work, as it is not as simple as removing the floor up to cabinets (photo right).

In homes with actual subfloors (plywood, OSB, or planking) all that is needed is removal of the actual worn out hardwood. With all types of hardwood floor replacements, expect a lot of dust to be raised, more so with a direct gluedown to the subfloor.

Glued Hardwood

With plank gluedown tear outs, the hardwood will more than likely have to be cut into sections for easier removal. In some cases, should you have a floor glued to a wood subfloor, successful removal may not be possible as the older adhesive often pulls chunks from the underlying sub floor with it. Options are removing both the hardwood and subfloor, install another layer of plywood over the old, or skip the new plywood and use a floating floor.

With any addition of plywood and/or hardwood it is important to bear in mind what effect the new finished floor height will have on the rest of the area. Baseboard may have to be removed as the new floor may tower against the old, making it look much smaller. A thin engineered floating floor may be in the cards if you don’t want baseboard removed, but these types have their limitations. Furthermore, depending on how old the home is, older baseboard removal may create additional problems if the home should happen to have older plastered walls.

Nailed Hardwood Removing old hardwood floor

Older solid 3/4” strip floors nailed to subfloors will the easiest replacement. There may be need for some cutting but not much. Often each board can be pried loose of it’s fasteners one by one from the tongue side. Newer pneumatic stapled floors (widespread usage mid 90’s) on the other hand will be very troublesome to remove. Most engineered flooring that was stapled will be easier due to the smaller sized staples that are often used.

Old Parquet Floors

Older parquet floors glued directly to any sub floor may be one of the hardest removal jobs because of the way they are constructed in short finger like patterns measuring only one inch by five or six inches. They may have been installed in blocks, but they will not be removed in blocks, trust me. In the 70’s and 80’s foamed back parquet was quite popular. Removal of these products will be quite simple in most cases, but the residual glue or foam that may be attached to the subfloor may be another chore unless the new floor is stapled, nailed, or floated.

Related Pages:

• Flooring Removal and Installation Costs
• Dust Control