Hard Wood Flooring in 1976 doublewide?

[Immagine3]

I recently inherited a doublewide 'mobile home' manufactured in 1976 which is located in a 55+ Mobile Home Park cooperative so I own the land) in an expensive seaside town in Northern California (Santa Cruz).. The 'mobile home' presently has wall to wall carpeting or sheet vinyl flooring (with many soft-spots). I would like to install hardwood floors throughout with the exception of bathrooms and bedrooms. I realize laminate floors would be both expected and less expensive however we have pets and to me they always look like plastic (mobile homes are plastic enough with out adding more plastic) and emit toxic fumes thus, are an option I would prefer to avoid. Is it possible to install real hard wood floors? Is there a pre-finished hardwood floor that doesn't look like it is coated in plastic and emit toxic gasses? and can be sanded? Our goal is to make the place as un-trailer-like as is possible but not spend a fortune. Any knowledge if advice to share?

[gfretwell]

"Soft spots" is troubling because they usually use particle board in those things and if it is compromised you may have problems. If you do go with solid hardwood (3/4") make sure you lay it across the stringers, not in line with them. That will mitigate minor problems with the substrate. If they are serious, replace the bad spots.

[clare]

prefinished hardwood should be no problem at all. The good stuff has a satin finish, not the high-gloss plastic look, and it is an aluminum oxide based finish so it is almost as hard as a diamond.. It CAN be sanded if necessary, but it WILL eat sandpaper. You want the 1/2 inch or thicker planks, and you will LIKELY have to replace the termite-spit subfloor that came standard equipment on most of those "redneck bungalows" (which is why there are "soft spots"

[HerHusband]

Based on the age of your mobile and the description of "soft spots", I'm betting your subfloor is a cheap grade particle board. That was quite common in older mobile homes. Unfortunately, those particle board subfloors will not hold the nails used to fasten "real" hardwood floors. You'll end up with squeaks, popping nails, gaps opening between boards, etc.

You could certainly add a layer of plywood to the subfloor that would allow you to install hardwood, but that will add a great deal of additional cost. That's probably not a wise investment for an old mobile home.

It would be smarter to choose a floating floor system. There are many options available from the cheapest "plastic" laminate floors, up to expensive real laminated wood flooring. It just depends how much you want to spend.

I recommend you make a trip down to the local home center and look at the various flooring options. You can choose how "real" you can afford to go. :) I think you will be surprised at the quality available in modern laminate floors.

Good luck!

Anthony Watson

[clare]

Real hardwood can also be glued instead of nailing or stapling.

[trader_4]

Agree with you and Gfre on the "soft spots" being an issue and that the subfloor may be a problem. But if it is, I don't think a floating installation solves it. AFAIK they all require a solid subfloor. If the subfloor can be made sufficient, then I'd go with one of the engineered hardwoods. They are less expensive, factory finished, and have enough thickness that they can be refinished a couple of times if needed.

I agree, many of the new laminates look really good and might be better suited to the application. But even they need a solid subfloor.

[HerHusband]

Absolutely. I was just suggesting a particle board floor may not hold nails very well. He'll still need to fix any "soft spots" before installing new flooring.

Since I have never done it, I'm curious how many people actually refinish their wood floors? If so, how often have you done it?

I wonder if the original poster will actually ever refinish the floors once they are installed? Will that mobile home still be around 20-30 years from now?

If he still wants real hardwood floors, he might check with Lumber Liquidators. That's where we got our prefinished Australian Cypress flooring. We saved a little money and 13 years later the floors still look like new.

Anthony Watson

[Immagine3]

Anthony, Thank you for the advice. Very hepful! Paulo

[Immagine3]

Trader 4, Thank you for the information and insight. Very helpful! Paulo

[Immagine3]

Clare, Thank you for the information and helpful advice. Much appreciated. Paulo

[Immagine3]

replying to gfretwell, Immagine3 wrote: GFRETWLL, Thank you for the insight and advice. Very helpful and much appreciated. Paulo