Is it possible to install a new Hardwood floor over an old Hardwood Doug Fir T&G floor from the fifties. Do you need to put plywood down first and if so how thick should it be.For the most part the current floor is level.
------------------------------------- Thanks, scungio
Sure, you can lay on top as long as it is sound. You should lay it perpendicular to the old, though, unless you overlay the old with ply. Can't advise about ply thickness, 3/4" would be fine, but don't know about thinner.
Actually Douglas Fir is not hardwood, it is a softwood, albeit harder than many softwoods, and harder than even some hardwoods.
If the off level is cupping or warping, it would be appropriate to simply sand it flat and renail as needed. Another layer of something skinny like luan plywood seems like a doubtful technique, but maybe others have had success with it. Fewer layers mean less trimming door bottoms and fitting base molding. Some older tract houses were built with T+G and no sub flooring. If this is your case, replacing the T+G with a nice hefty plywood subfloor would uncomplicate things a lot.
Joe
It is possible, but it might not be preferable. What's the width and condition of the old flooring? Demo is pretty cheap, and you might be able to find someone who would be willing to pull up the old flooring to use in one of their projects. The old stuff has value.
What's under the existing T&G?
R
Doug fir will hold nails well for new floor, should be fine.
But if it were me, I'd just sand the existing floor, pine floors look really cool and get a terrific patina if you dont baby them.
I've never babied wood floors, had em all my life, they get better with age and patina IMHO. In fact my basement is bare maple (yes no finish at all other than some natural carnubra wax buffed in when initially sanded). All the great dance halls of the 1920's through
1940's had BARE wood floors, (they dont know how to make dance floors any more), and were properly "sprung" with underlayment to provide soft landings for swing dancers of the age.I'd really consider refinishing the existing fir, you could have a gem there and not know it.
scungio had written this in response to
RicodJour wrote:
------------------------------------- scungio
I'll check when I get home.
My 1956 colonial has carpet over hardwood over T&G over joists.
I don't recall if there is anything between the T&G and the hardwood, but I have a section of flooring exposed as part of an entry-door / tileing project.
If I can tell how they installed the hardwood, I'll let you know.
scungio wrote: ...
Finished floor height is a consideration of nontrivial magnitude if this is anywhere other than just living space and even there you're talking doors, baseboard, etc., etc., etc., as well as transition to other floors unless it is entire house which then gets to counter heights, fixtures not wanting to be trapped, etc., etc., etc., ...
What, specifically, is the reason for the desire? Knowing what you're trying to cure could/would aid in response.
As for the specific question, assuming it is solidly in place or fastened in place where isn't to eliminate any squeaks and flex, the existing would be sufficient subflooring.
What specifics would be the installation would depend on the product selected--here's a link to the Bruce site that has links to their products which are representative of all vendors' products as to what is/isn't acceptable and/or recommended. You'd want to doublecheck for any specifics for a given product, particularly for anything that is engineered or similar rather than just strip flooring.
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dpb wrote: ...
...
Forgot but intended to mention--
Although you will want to consider the direction the current is laid and whether it would look proper to lay over it a 90-deg which would be ideal (assuming it's not on a diagonal which is how t&g subflooring would normally be run).
It would look "funny" to run strip flooring crossways down a hall for example or in the short direction of a rectangular room.
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The Stucco site is not a help forum, it's an
*advertising* forum that invades real forums (like "alt.home.repair", part of "usenet") parasitically in order to generate free advertising for itself, which continually advances its search engine placement, thereby increasing its own revenue through its click- through advertising commissions.So the first thing you should do is write them an email and tell them to quit spamming.
Then try to find your way here through proper channels. Please do a google search on "Usenet" and post the regular way.
What are you talking about a "Stucco site"??? I don't ever see anything that looks like a stucco dite here.
I'll toss this in...
When I redid my master bath, I removed the mortar bed and tile down to the T&G.
The T&G was cupped and loose...no way I would have put *anything* directly over it based on it's condition. Granted, this was a 40 YO bathroom, so there are obviously reasons the T&G wasn't in the best of shape.
Since I was redoing the plumbing also, I pulled up the T&G, replaced it with 3/4 ply, then WonderBoard, then tile.
Point: Unless your T&G is completely flat and securely attached, you're going to want to fix/replace it first.
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