Installing Hardwood Flooring On Particle Board

Hardwood flooring that is fastened by any method whether it be mechanical fasteners or glue should not go over particle board.

Installing hardwood flooring on particle board. Hardwood floors also help cut down on dust mites. That option is floating a floor over top of the subfloor. Particle board underlayment has the appearance of oatmeal but is actually made up of tiny wood particles glued and pressed into 4 x 8 sheets. To our dismay when we ripped up the old carpet we found that the whole subfloor was covered with particle board.

It is particle board and not osb. Stop when you have about 5 feet of flooring remaining to be laid or when you don t. Pull up the existing flooring and baseboards in the room you are working in. Here s how to install flooring using the staple down method.

Try not to cut into the joists or blocking so set your skillsaw depth carefully to 7 8. Next using your hammer insert a nail 1 inch from the wall and about every 4 inches along the board. Don t mop the floor as it can absorb the water and damage the particleboard. We want to install either laminate or hardwood flooring throughout most of our home.

Use a skillsaw to cut through the particle board 1 1 2 from the walls use a sawzall or something similar to finish cuts. The reason you can only float a floor over particle board is because nails won t hold in the particle board and glue will ruin the particle board. The particle board does not run under the walls. Typically used for engineereed hardwood staple down installation works well with 3 8 5 8 inch flooring.

Install the remaining lines of hardwood across your particleboard subfloor spreading more glue for each line. Particle board underlayment. The home is about 35 years old. Use a thick piece of plywood to help shore up your.

When thinking about installing wood flooring in a situation where the only subfloor is particle board you really only have one option. Begin with the first row pre drilling holes. Using a standard nail gun to install the floor was out of the question particle board isn t structurally sound enough to bite nails. Sheet vinyl can be installed over an old hardwood floor but a layer of 1 4 inch or thicker underlayment has to be installed over the old hardwood flooring first.

It s best to vacuum the particleboard first to help the glue adhere. A floating install is the only way to go over it and i don t know of any 3 4 solid on the market that you can float.