If your subfloor is already hardwood but you want to improve the look of your home with new material it is possible to lay engineered hardwood over the existing floor with proper preparation and traditional installation techniques.
Installing hardwood over hardwood.
Let hardwood acclimate in the room you re installing it in for five days prior to installation to temperatures of 65 degrees to 75 degrees and recommended humidity levels of 30 to 55 percent.
For instance i will look at much older floors that were nailed into floor joists before the widespread use of subfloors.
Solid wood floors should not be installed in basements or below grade.
Stack flooring log cabin style or just spread it around the room but not directly on concrete.
So before i get into the step by step diy installation tutorial i wanted to give you a little more of the juicy deets regarding this cutting edge flooring technology.
With shaw floors new line of floorté waterproof hardwood i was able to install real hardwood flooring directly over my existing floors without any demo or prep work.
They are available in 3 4 inch thickness as well as low profile styles that are 5 16 to 5 8 inch thick which are a good or installing over existing flooring.
3 4 thick or thinner solid or engineered hardwood flooring must be installed across the old wood floor boards at a 90 degree angle.
Like unfinished hardwood floors the prefinished types typically have tongue and groove edges on all sides.
Installing new hardwood over old hardwood floors.