CompleteNewb wrote:
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), and he said it's impossible to
put a hardwood floor down because there's already one there. He said if we
do a hardwood floor, we HAVE to tear up all the existing hardwood, and that
in doing that we would probably destroy the joists.

I went to the basement and looked at the ceiling, and it doesn't appear that
the hardwood floor upstairs is the same as the ceiling downstairs.
Downstairs as the ceiling, there are wide (around 12") wooden planks that
run diagonally, and the hardwood floor upstairs is thinner planks that run
straight, so it seems that the hardwood floor is nailed either into subfloor
or straight into those planks that comprise the ceiling of the basement. So
why would we be destroying the joists if we tore it up?
....
The current floor is laid over the subfloor and there's absolutely no
reason why taking it up should destroy anything if even a modicum of
care were taken in doing so.

As for the existing hardwood floor, unless you're insistent on changing
the wood itself, I would expect a professional resanding and refinishing
would leave you with a quite attractive floor. As bad as a
water-stained or floor after years of carpet pad on top, it will be
returned to a brand new surface by a sanding. Unless there are really
large gouges or other real mechanical problems (which can also be
repaired or small sections replaced), it would undoubtedly be the
cheapest solution.

If you're adamant about new hardwood flooring of full 3/4" thickness, I
would recommend removing the old, however, simply to not raise the floor
that much. It creates a lot of other issues...

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