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asheavenue

Hardwood over Softwood? And old house dilemma...

asheavenue
11 years ago

I have a 1909 house that has an issue. Well, one of many. The first floor has heart-pine flooring over a diagonal lumber subfloor. I repaired and refinished the floors, and am happy with the results. However, the second floor has no subfloor; it's just floorboards on joists. In general the pine is in pretty poor condition- nasty dark stain, and several areas where toungues have broken and the floor is squishy. . . Plus sound transmission is as bad as could be. I sanded and refinished one room in which the floor had been painted white, with mediocre results. Plus, sanding made the already thin floor even thinner. My initial thought is to install a new nail-down solid hardwood floor with a 1/4" cork underlayment over the entirety of the second level. The cork would be primarily for sound dampening. I know that some sort of ply would probably be recommended over the old floor, but even raising the floor 1" is going to make for some strange transitions around 3 fireplace surrounds (not to mention the top step of the stairs). I'm also not a huge fan of engineered/floating floors- I feel bad enough at the prospect of covering up the original floors- I don't want it looking like a condo. . .

Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing anyone's thoughts on my predicament.

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