Installing Hardwood Flooring On Particle Board

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.

Installing hardwood flooring on particle board.

I pulled up all the carpet and found 3 4 particle board over 1 2 plywood board subfloor underneath the carpet. Next using your hammer insert a nail 1 inch from the wall and about every 4 inches along the board. Here s how to install flooring using the staple down method. That option is floating a floor over top of the subfloor.

The particle board does not run under the walls. Use a skillsaw to cut through the particle board 1 1 2 from the walls use a sawzall or something similar to finish cuts. Hardwood flooring that is fastened by any method whether it be mechanical fasteners or glue should not go over particle board. Maintenance is easy for a pre finished hardwood floor keep grit off of the surface by sweeping regularly and use a flooring cleaning kit alcohol based and spray on and wipe off with a damp cloth.

Pull up the existing flooring and baseboards in the room you are working in. Typically used for engineereed hardwood staple down installation works well with 3 8 5 8 inch flooring. Using a standard nail gun to install the floor was out of the question particle board isn t structurally sound enough to bite nails. Try not to cut into the joists or blocking so set your skillsaw depth carefully to 7 8.

Stop when you have about 5 feet of flooring remaining to be laid or when you don t. 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. Install the remaining lines of hardwood across your particleboard subfloor spreading more glue for each line.

Hardwood floors also help cut down on dust mites. To our dismay when we ripped up the old carpet we found that the whole subfloor was covered with particle board. 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. Last year we installed solid oak hardwood floor in our main bedroom and family room.

Particle board underlayment. 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. 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. The home is about 35 years old.