IMO, particle board is not a good subfloor for hardwood flooring. I'm
not a flooring installer, but I have installed my own engineered
flooring made by Bruce. It is 3/8" thick (app 10mm for those across the
pond) and is was prefinished. I ripped up all of the old subflooring
and put down a layer of 5/8" plywood with construction adhesive and
screws. Then on top of that is a layer of 3/8" underlayment, with glue
and screws again. (Overkill?? Maybe) It is as solid feeling as
concrete. Do it right regarding the subfloor and get rid up the old
stuff. Mark

× Jure.J × wrote:

Hello everyone!

I haven't had much luck in getting advice from my local woodfloor seller
so I was hoping to get some answers here.

I'm in a process of a complete reflooring of 3 rooms (about 60m2).
Currently there is a prefinished parquet that was laid about 15 years
ago. The floor was installed with no gaps between the rooms and wasn't
nailed or glued to the subfloor - it is what you would probably refer to
as floating floor.
The subfloor is of 25mm particle board on joists which are 60cm appart.
I don't know how much height difference if any there is between particle
boards.

The parquet has started to make terrible squeaking sounds over the years
which I assume is because of a bad installement that's why I decided to
replace it.

I haven't made my decision of which type of wood floor to buy because I
do not know which would be the most appropriate. Also there is only
about as much space for new floor as the old parquet thickness is (about
12mm), so I guess solid hardwood parquet is out of a question. I was
leaning more towards the prefinished hardwood (not laminate) floor. But
I don't know if it is suitable for this type of subfloor.

So I would like to hear your advice on what would be best to buy?

Thank you for your help!

J.J.