Solid wood floor/Engineered wood floor on top of Floorboards

[cunningplan101]

We moved into an Edwardian maisonette a couple of months ago and I had my heart set on restoring the original pine floorboards.

However, since lifting the carpets, we've found that so much noise comes up from below. Obviously, our neighbours also hear our footsteps (there's nothing in the lease to stop us having wood floors, but we don't want to be inconsiderate neighbours making the downstairs people's lives hell).

So, our original plan was a soundproofing solution which lifts all the floorboards, fits 'hangers' over the joists, then screws the floorboards to the hangers, effectively make the floorboards a floating floor.

However, it turns out that our floorboards run under the walls, so we can't lift them all without poss bringing down the walls! I don't think sanding the floorboards without soundproofing is an option. The flooring company has said we could alternatively fit a solid wood or engineered wood floor ON TOP of our floorboards, with soundproofing underlay in between.

Has anyone else done this - fit solid wood floor on top of floorboards? Is it straightforward? What do you do on areas like the landing under the banisters, and in all the rooms under the doors, without it looking really untidy?

Would having a solid wood floor rather than original floorboards ruin the period character?

removing the carpets brought the problem.

How much time, money and effort to you want to spend to avoid re-carpeting?

I've just had quotes for getting this done in my house - I presume it's very usual to get it fitted this way over floorboards as that's basically the only option unless your subfloor is concrete! There are two ways to do it - either glue the engineered boards on or to nail them down. Doors will be planed to fit and it's not really that different to fitting carpet around doorways really, skirting boards might need to move up or be cut shorter, or you can have beading.

Any wooden/engineered floor fitter should be able to advice you further on this.

I don't think it ruins the character. When the houses were first built they would have had huge rugs down on the floorboards anyway rather than having wooden floors as such.

If you lay wooden engineered boards onto wood you need the plastic insulator underneath.

The reason for this is it helps stop the boards creaking.
You cant nail down engineered boards they have to move to some extent. They expand and contract as all wood does to some extent. This is the reason you have to leave an expansion gap around all the edges. Once the boards were down without this gap as soon as moisture entered the wood within 3 weeks you would not be able to get the boards up. Further more the boards would rise and fall as you walked over them without this gap.
I can only tell you from the experience of laying them on a chipboard floating floor, they still creak and moan as engineered boards dont sympathize to the rise and fall of pine boards or chipboard bowing .

I helped a neighbor who had oak engineered boards that had been laid without enough gap and it was a nightmare getting up the first few boards. I near had the had a non condensing tumble dryer churning out steam and the wood drank it up.

Should read " I near had to destroy the boards to get them up"

Most are tongue and groove and some can be glued with pva and as a solid mass with the expansion gap will expand and contract without problems

glued on the tongue and groove that is.
Senior moments this evening must be the dogs winalot I have been eating

We have just had engineered boards laid on top if our floorboards and it was fine. We have new skirting as I hate beading. There are strips in the doorways covering over where the boards change direction. I think if was all secret-nailed down. It looks absolutely fab.

Should add we did have lots of creaks but the flood guy came back last week and used some special nails - tongue tights I think they were called and most if the creaks have gone.

I am ripping the engineered boards up in one room as they are looking scruffy after 7 years and they are bloody cold in the winter. I am going to have some good quality rubber underlay and a good carpet laid. The one good thing about wood is with a dog they take some wear , but I tried sanding these boards and they are hard as rock. My dogs claws managed to score them though. So carpet right can have some of my dosh and I intend getting a carpet steamer for those muddy dog moments. Might use the old boards when the economy takes us back to the stone age as fire kindle. Well that may be a bit overboard , but from observation we are racing to the bottom so that the chosen few can live in gated communities and cause money volatility to shrink to a third of what it was ten years ago and m4

Thanks so much for all your replies.

The engineered wood floor would have a layer of soundproofing underlay between it and the floorboards. So that should hopefully cut down on creaking and the issue of not having enough space in between?

PigletJohn - I guess it's irrational but I really prefer wood to wall-to-wall carpets, so I am happy to spend the money if the result will be good quality and long-lasting. I've inherited a lovely Persian runner which I can put down in the hallway, so that also adds to my desire for a wooden floor underneath it.

Does anyone have recommendations on what sort of engineered wood looks good and 'in keeping' in a period property?

Any other tips?

There are some amazing parquet (zig zag) oak floors available. These look great in my opinion. Expensive though, so maybe a smaller area? I would also recommend planks. Don't get narrow strips unless you want a Scandinavian look. I have oak Matt sealed planks from Khars (hope I have spelt that correctly) with a slightly weathered pale finish. It suits my house but they do lots of finishes which would replicate floorboards. Pine is quite a soft wood so modern floors are generally not pine, but there are various woods in so many shades it is bewildering! Also don't have beading. Take up the skirting and put it back or start again. It really spoils expensive flooring if you don't do the job properly.

I have solid oak flooring in one room. These days it is really hard to find as it is a less stable product than engineered. If you are starting from scratch, do consider underfloor heating. It works really well with engineered wood. Try and get the planks all laid in the same direction, usually the length of a room. This helps with the door problem. Where you have to join, you can have metal joining strips or bigger wooden ones. You may need new door surrounds too unless they can be cut to allow the new floor under them.

I don't think you can lay wood under the banister supports without those being replaced. We replaced our whole lower staircase and had oak treads but a carpeted landing. The staircase was bespoke and, therefore, very expensive. I would carpet the stairs and landing if you are not replacing the stairs. It is quieter and significantly cheaper! We have a big detached house so our wooden stairs don't annoy anyone. Sometimes it is best to have a mix of wood/carpet to avoid some of the problems you mention. So much to think about!

Thanks so much for the great advice MillyMolly.

Yes, def planning to have a runner on the stairs with the edges painted white - to both absorb the footsteps and make it less slippy than wood.

Good to know about removing the skirting boards; I'll ensure to do that.

I've found this company online and now am so tempted by their beautiful parquets and, well, pretty much all of their floors ... but I'm assuming as their showroom is in Mayfair it's going to be out of our league!
victorianwoodworks.co.uk/

Any recommendations on places to buy quality engineered wood in London?

And did you get one company to supply and fit the wood, or separate?