I am planning on installing 3/4" hardwood floors in all the rooms on my main floor except the living room, which presently has 3/4" oak hardwood on top of what I assume to be fur 3/4" planks of varying widths. The house is 100 years old. I've removed the present flooring to reveal the plank subfloor, however there are significant gaps between the planks. I realize that I could lay down plywood on top of the plank subfloor, but then the new flooring will be significantly higher due to the added plywood. Would you suggest removing the planks and replacing it with 3/4" plywood or is it okay to install it on top of the planks despite the gaps? The gaps appear up to 1/2"!
Answer:
A half-inch gap will not do any harm to your 3/4" hardwood. More important than the gaps is squeaks - if there are any squeaks in the sub-flooring, you should get rid of them before doing anything else. As far as an underlayment on top of the sub-floor goes, the more layers you have the more likely it is that squeaks will develop. In short, the sub-flooring there has more than enough integrity to accept your new flooring.
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