Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Wood Floors in Old House: Dumb Questions

Hi all.

My house was built in 1925, in the Heights of Houston (if it matters). It still has the original pine floors. I don't like them. I'd rather but down something else. The question is: do I have to remove the old flooring or can I use it as a subflooring since there isn't anything between the pine and the dirt under the house (I've checked)?

Equally important, any thoughts about whether it's dumb to remove the original wood for resale purposes?

Thanks!

Questions aren't "dumb", only what you do with the answers. You probably have a goldmine of a floor, but since you don't like it, what do you plan on putting in it's place? Will you install new hardwoods, carpet, tile? Removing the floor will tear it up to an unrecognizable state, except for kindling.

Well, one problem is that the original pine is only in part of the house. In the kitchen and part of the living room, there is newer oak. Plus, the original pine is damaged in a lot of areas; is some spots, entire 2'x2' squares have been cut out (don't ask why). So it's not as if I have this great span of pine that just needs a little sanding and revarnishing. I'm not sure how much it's worth trying to work with it.

I was thinking of something like bamboo. Would it be better for me to rip it out and put in plywood sub or use the pine as a sort of sub? Do people even do the latter?

If the pine is the only "flooring" you have in that area, I would replace the bad wood with new lumber, spanning at least 3 joists, then use Advantech subflooring over that. This will give you a good substrate to install the bamboo. You may have elevation deviations to the remainder of the house and to exterior doors, so make plans ahead of time for those. The pine alone isn't thick enough to qualify for a good flooring substrate. Let us know if we can help further, and good luck with the reno.

Sounds a bit like my brothers house in Denver also built in '22 or '25. He has oak hardwood in the living and dining and clear vertical fir in the room off the kitchen (former parlor?) The oak was laid directly on the joists with no sub floor at all...we had some "bouncy" issues due to weak and undersized joists (2x6 spaning 12' to 14') with ends set in a brick foundation wall also loose. here the floors were still in pretty good shape but we needed to beef up the joists.

My concern for your place is that the walls are probablly framed "on" the pine. You could add ply over the pine and then what ever you choose on top of that...it will raise the overall floor height about 1 1/2" which may obscure period moldings and trim and or require triming doors etc.

are your joists still sound? we had to sister them up and put in new support columns

Thanks for the response. I never thought about the framing sitting on the pine but I suppose one solution to that is to just cut the pine where they meet the frame? I'm reluctant to make the floor any higher.