Flooring Question

[Joe Pelonio]

We have in our entry, hall, powder room, kitchen and family room oak parquet floor which is now over 30 years old and in need of refinishing. My wife prefers that we change it over to laminate because it would wear better and the parquet look dates it. I have verified that the oak is glued down and would be a terrible mess to take up and probably require a new subfloor.

Any reason not to install the laminate floor over the oak? The wood baseboard would have to be removed anyway so putting it raising it up 6mm is not a problem, the doors would still open without trimming.

Also, in a long, thin area (kitchen/family room 15' x 42') would it make sense aesthetically to run the laminate floor the short way to make it seem wider?

[David DeCristoforo]

As long as your existing floor is "tight" with no loose pieces, there should be no problem. Laminate flooring "floats" and is not bonded to the existing flooring so as long as you follow the mfgrs recommendations and use the correct underpad, you should be fine.

[David G Baker]

Joe,
Pay the money and get the better under pad for the laminate. My son bought the cheap stuff and his floor clicked every time it was walked on. I have read about issues when laminate and water get together but there are ways around it if it is installed according to manufacturer's instructions.

[Joe Pelonio]

Joe,
Pay the money and get the better under pad for the laminate. My son bought the cheap stuff and his floor clicked every time it was walked on. I have read about issues when laminate and water get together but there are ways around it if it is installed according to manufacturer's instructions.
As long as it's not too thick. I'll have to look into that and find one thin that's still good. If the total thickness is more than about 3/8" I may have to trim a couple of interior doors.

[David G Baker]

Joe,
The pad that I think was one of the better choices was cork. It wasn't cheap. I think that most of the pads are about the same thickness, I would guess that they are around 3/16 thick but don't know for sure.