Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - What should I do???

Hello!

I had just found out that the house that we will be moving in this weekend had the oak hardwood flooring all throughout the first floor by the current homeowner or previous homeowner....as the living room and dining room has carpet, while the kitchen has the vinyl sheet on it, and the family room has carpet...as I am wondering of how can I tell if the oak harwood floor is in great shape and how thick it is....without tearing out the whole room of carpet...as well as of the nail holes, too...as I love hardwood floor, but oak is quite expensive....I would love to have oak hardwood floor as it last longer....

So what can be done and how...I know the kitchen is the worst one which due to glue for the vinyl sheet flooring.....it ain't good idea to put vinyl sheet on good oak floor...

As I will attempt to pull up a corner abit to see what is underneath...


Thanks,
Rick

I've worked in a few homes old enough to have the oak floors throughout, but usually they had underlayment the same thickness as the oak flooring in the areas of the vinyl. (Or in that era, Linoleum)
If the house has central heating, you may be able to pull a heat register to have a look at the floor and subfloor. Pull a transition metal between the vinyl and carpet to see what is in the gap between floors.

I guess another option is to simply wait until you are ready to replace one of the existing floors. If you are going to put in something new (or refinish what's underneath) you can just pull up the whole works.

Yes, I know how hard it is to wait and not know!

A friend recently moved into an older house that was remodeled before he bought it (new kitchen, bathroom, electrical, carpets). The hall closet has no carpet, and hardwood floor (which apparently extends into at least the hallway and living room, if not the bedrooms). But since the carpet is brand new, he's going to kive with it until it needs to be replaced - probably a long time.

Rick, you may have already moved in and pulled up some carpet, but I also moved into a home once with all wood floors. Before we purchased, I pulled up a corner of carpet and was quite impressed. Unfortunately after we moved in I pulled up all the carpet to find the floors were all top nailed every 18" or so, starting about 2' from each wall. The peek in the corner wasn't enough:mad: Hope you have better luck.

Look in the closet. You can take up the carpet without messing up the carpeting in the room.

Don't worry about the nail holes from the tack strip. You will probably be the only one who sees them. If you refinish the floors you will probably never see them if they are normal size holes.

From an investment standpoint HW is the way to go. It outlasts carpet 2-1. It is just a matter of preference.