# Prepping an old parquet floor for engineered hardwood.



## js09 (Aug 8, 2012)

First time around this forum, so bare with me.

I'm prepping approx. 500sq ft of a second level for new engineered hardwood floors. carpet is ripped up and now I'm left with old parquet floors from the 60's. The unit, however, was renovated in 2006.

The selected wood is a t&g engineered american walnut from LL.
http://www.lumberliquidators.com/ll/c/American-Walnut-Engineered-Schön-Engineered-DURENW/10023285

Questions:

1. Float or glue? The parquet floor needs a lot of work to make it stable and remove any creaks, can this be done on a floor this old? overall it is still in tact. If it's to be floated, I'm looking at a prooduct from http://www.floormuffler.com

2. Can anyone advise me on the possibility of asbestos usage for the parquet floor adhesive? I will probably have to replace a few squares with plywood and do other prep work, which has me worried.

Anything else I should consider? Please see the attached images.

Thanks everyone!


----------



## MIKE ANTONETTI (Jul 17, 2012)

Keep going, keep going, parquet should come up, usually black glue has asbestos in it.
I would use 3/8 underlayment grade plywood, nailed 2" around edges and 6" in the field. 
The pictures are great, looks like 1x6 plank underneath. 
Glued eng. hardwood to the plywood locks it together forever, when the hardwood comes up so does the underlayment.
If you have to glue the tongue that makes it permanent also, 
What you have done was picked a product and then worked in reverse to install it correctly.
A whole lot has to be done to change from carpet to eng. wood.
Get some more opinions, I'll send this off for now.
I'm kinda new to this site also, but not to flooring.


----------



## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

That first pic looks like there is particle board under the parquet....if so you really have no choice but to float, unless there is a bag of money under there too.


----------



## MIKE ANTONETTI (Jul 17, 2012)

Oh boy , yes I guess it is particle board, pictures are not on the side of the homeowner. 
Precision- would you install floating over the 1square foot wood floor or pull it and put floating floor over particle board?


----------



## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

MIKE ANTONETTI said:


> Oh boy , yes I guess it is particle board, pictures are not on the side of the homeowner.
> Precision- would you install floating over the 1square foot wood floor or pull it and put floating floor over particle board?


It really depends on how well it was bonded ( I mean how well can anything bond to pb anyway..) IF it was down good, I'd probably float over it. The last thing you want is to cause a bunch of unnecessary subfloor repairs by tearing it up only to find the traffic areas are stuck and start pulling chunks of pb with it. I highly doubt that though. Most everything I've seen glued to pb will fly off with a dull scraper :laughing: 

My personal preference, and what I'd try to steer the homeowner towards doing is pulling up the parquet and the pb and go back in with 3/4" Advantech or BC plywood and gluing the engineered to that. Muuuuuch better floor in the long run.


----------



## js09 (Aug 8, 2012)

Here's an update. The subfloor looks like regular planks? Not pb thankfully. Not in the best condition though.

I'm getting the black adhesive tested for asbestos tomorrow. It is coming up rather easily.

At this point I'm considering floating the engineered floor over the parquet. If so...

1. What's the best way to patch the small area I tore up? Screw down some 1/2" plywood?

2. To fill in the voids where the patched plywood meets the parquet, should I then use regular leveling compound?

3. What about an underlayment that would go on top of the parquet? I was looking at 3mm cork if I remember correctly.

Thanks again.


----------



## MIKE ANTONETTI (Jul 17, 2012)

Put the worms in the bucket, the can is too small.
Testing for asbestos is the only way to know, good job on that
Abatement is costly, a quote would help to determine your options, 
If you go over it, it will stay in place and not get into air which is fine, glue doesn't stick to it, 
I would still pull up parquet, nail down plywood with powernail surface nailer sn50 with 1-1/4 inch cleats.
Then your slate is clean and you have all the options of installing your engineered wood.
Yes, I know easy for me to say!


----------



## RhodesHardwood (Jun 28, 2010)

The right way to do it would be to pull up the particle board and the parquet. Add a layer of plywood, and staple the new flooring down to the plywood.


----------



## js09 (Aug 8, 2012)

The original subfloor appears to be wood planks, not particle board. I was out of town this weekend and plan to do some more prep work tonight as the sample is tested.


----------

