On 2/9/2009 5:21 PM Dairy Godmother spake thus:

I bought a house built in 1925 which has oak floors. They are not in
the best shape, with cracks and weak spots (funny the home inspection
didnt really call it out as a problem). Additionally, it has been
refinished as many times as it can take so we are going to replace
it.

What do you mean, "as many timea as it can take"? Are the floorboards
too thin? Sounds as if you just don't want that old floor anymore.
Floorboards can "take" an arbitrary number of refinishings. They don't
wear out.

There is no subfloor, however.

Are you sure? You say you can see through cracks in the floor, so this
may be the case, but it sounds weird. Houses have been built with
subfloors since forever.

My question is: could you have
the new floor installed right on top of the old floor (making it
become the subfloor) or would you just have both installed brand new?

If the existing floor is structurally sound and reasonably flat, then
you can use it as a subfloor.

Or just a new floor without a subfloor?

Nope.


--
Personally, I like Vista, but I probably won't use it. I like it
because it generates considerable business for me in consulting and
upgrades. As long as there is hardware and software out there that
doesn't work, I stay in business. Incidentally, my company motto is
"If this stuff worked, you wouldn't need me".

- lifted from sci.electronics.repair