"CompleteNewb" wrote in message
. ..
So a guy from Empire came out to do an estimate on either carpeting or
hardwooding our floor. He pulled up some of our existing carpet, saw that
it's a hardwood floor underneath (it's in pretty crappy looking shape;
before you suggest just finishing it, I do plan to try sanding, staining,
and polyurethaning a 2' square section, but I have no hope of it looking
like something we'd want to be our floor),


I asked a couple handymen I know (they're not hardwood floor installers,
but they seem pretty savvy about house stuff overall), and they said they
can't imagine what the problem would be as long as there's subfloor
between the old hardwood and the new hardwood.

Are we all missing something?

Thanks for any help, details, thoughts, etc.

I think what you are missing is a little common sense here. You've talked
to a mass market distributor, you've talked to a couple of handyman types,
now you're asking a bunch of others that don't do floors every day, but
you've NOT talked to a hardwood floor installer. Why not?

You may be absolutely amazed at what a pro can do with the existing floor.
If he cannot, he can give you sound advice on how to proceed. And how to do
the job the RIGHT way. It is your house so you can do as you please, but it
is also the largest investment most people make so do the job the way is
should be done.