Removing Engineered Wood Floor?

11 years ago

We are getting ready to replace the living room carpet and 20 year old engineered wood floor in our dining room with laminate. The two rooms flow together and it seems like we have two options:

1. Rip up the glued down wood.

2. Raise the subfloor under the carpet to match the wood and cover the entire area with laminate.

I know that ripping up the glued floor could be expensive, messy and difficult and I am afraid of also doing damage to the existing subfloor so is it a better choice to try to raise the subfloor and go over top of the engineered? This is not a huge area...about 170 square feet of the engineered wood and 200 of carpet. Also, we don't plan on doing this work ourselves but want to make sure we're doing the right thing.

Any help would be appreciated!

Comments (3)

gamountains
11 years ago
I'm thinking option #2 is the best idea for several reasons and one could be that the actual sub floor is plywood because of your fear of damaging? With concrete there isn't much of a concern.

Let's say 3/8" plywood (most engineered flooring is 3/8" thick) has to be added. That would run about $90 in material (cost) and probably take a few hours for one guy to put down over a wood subfloor. Removal on the other hand could...well we've almost ruled that one out.

Some things one would encounter with concrete...

Here is a link that might be useful: remove engineered hardwood on concrete
bottlerocket75
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for your reply. Yes, the engineered is over plywood. Part of my dilemma is that I've been given two different estimates for the same amount but one company would rip the wood floor up and the other would lay the extra plywood. If there was a huge financial difference my decision would be much easier! We also have a three year old and I'm not sure I want our floors torn up for longer than is absolutely necessary.
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raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
11 years ago
Keep in mind that in raising the floor level, you might need to cut the trim around the doors too (removing the lower however much the extra plywood + laminate equals).

This was done in my kitchen, and now that I am redoing the floors, I will have to either somehow repair this damage or accept that the kitchen floor will stay nearly 1/2" higher than the dining room.

If the price is the same, I would rip up the old. My flooring guy says it isn't that hard to do -- what does yours say? What do they say about how long it will take? It might not be so much longer than adding a layer.