4yanx

I am starting a re-do of a family room and living room for a woman who wants hardwood floors installed to replace nasty old carpeting. Come to find out, the carpet was laid over old 5/16 oak strip flooring in the living room but, in the family room, it is carpet laid over early-60's, 9" X 9" vinyl asbestos tiles (glued to wood underlayment). These tiles are remarkably flat, tight, level and in extremely good shape across the entire room (save where I expect a few cracks near the edges when the carpet tack strip is removed). Frankly, the floor is so even that I person could lay the hardwood directly on top of the tiles.

I suppose there will be different opinions on this this have been hashed over before but, in my mind, it would be far better and safer to cover these tiles than to try to remove them. My question is whether nailing 3/4" solid hardwood directly over the tiles is advisable or if something needs to sandwich between. Would plastic sheeting, like visqueen, be a good material? Tar paper? If there needs to be a barrier other than the hardwood, I need ti to be extremely thin, lest I cause myself issues due to floor height differential. Thanks in advance for all advice.

jamestrd

yes, you can nail right over them and no, you dont need any barriers..

olzo55

maybe this would be overbuilt but i think i would explain that it needs to sheeted with 1/4 plywood to hold everything together underneath. I would just staple it enough to lay the sheet flat and lay in the felt.. when you nail in the wood it should draw everything down and seal it good.

Floorwizard

Really?
What if the tiles were installed on particle board?

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"in 20 years you will regret more what you did not do than what you did"

Evapman

I've done this before and had no problems, layed red rosin paper down over the tile for squeek stoppage.

jamestrd

depends on the thickness of the particle board.. assuming it was just an underlayment placed over the subfloor and no thicker that 1/2" then yes...

2 inch cleats/staples will drive through all surfaces and enter the subfloor and will hold no problem.if the partcile board is thicker, that I will say not ,as there will be no entry to the subfloor and you will be relying on the particle board to hold nails, which it can not do sufficiently for wood flooring.

PrecisionFloors

WRONG. Particle board is Not an approved or recommended substrate for a mechanically fastened floor.

Regardless of whats covering it...

Using geometry, tell me how much of a 2" fastener would be penetrating the subfloor in the scenario you state above, with 3/4" hardwood and even 1/2" pb (which I've only seen 5/8" used as an underlayment)?

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Precision Flooring
Hampton, VA (757) 256-0848
Tile, Hardwood, Laminate, and Resilients
Installation, Sales & Repair - "We do it right the FIRST time"

Floorwizard

But what if the cleats are long enough to penetrate deep into the subfloor?

__________________
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"in 20 years you will regret more what you did not do than what you did"

PrecisionFloors

This

__________________
Precision Flooring
Hampton, VA (757) 256-0848
Tile, Hardwood, Laminate, and Resilients
Installation, Sales & Repair - "We do it right the FIRST time"

jamestrd

capt chaos..

its not a substrate, its an underlayment..

2" cleats penetrate through 3/4 HW and plywood by 1/2" so do the math... 3/4 hardwood 1/2" particle board -penetration to subfloor =3/4"

school is out

jamestrd

"But what if the cleats are long enough to penetrate deep into the subfloor?"


thats what I said... yes, if nails will enter subflooring, then yes and using simple "geometry" and noting math never lies, then see above post...

if the nails will not enter subflooring, then absoultely not and it must be removed and never install over partcile board as a sole substrate....and believe it or not, i have seen it..