Is it possible to lay laminate flooring on old parquet: preparing and laying the floor

The question of how rational it is to lay laminate flooring over parquet flooring remains open today. But if the floor is in terrible condition, worn down to obvious depressions, then the only option is to lay laminate flooring on the old parquet. Although for a person uninitiated in construction matters, such a technique may seem like a rather unprofessional solution.

Installing over old parquet saves time and money

Is it possible to put laminate on parquet (and why)

In fact, not everything is as bad as it might seem at first glance. The parquet floor itself remains a very durable and reliable coating, even if careless owners did not monitor its condition.

The technical possibility of laying laminate flooring on parquet is ensured by several factors:

A parquet board, even under conditions of intense wear and tear, when properly laid, remains a very reliable, durable and fairly balanced base; laying lamellas on parquet boards is even easier than on concrete;
A wooden parquet base provides additional thermal insulation, protection from noise, changes in humidity and temperature.

Laying laminate flooring, which is at least 90% wood, on the same wood, even if it’s not in the best condition, is a more logical step than what most covens suggest - tearing down the old floor and replacing the parquet boards with laminate. No special qualifications are required for this type of work, and it is quite possible to earn double the amount. In addition, laying laminate directly on concrete only looks simple from the outside; you will not only need to remove the parquet slips, but also clean the mastic base with which the boards were glued to the floor slab.

The presence of a parquet base does not affect the quality of the laminate

Important! You cannot lay parquet on remaining mastic.

Is it possible

If we consider the situation in the abstract, then there is nothing stopping you from laying laminate flooring on a parquet floor. However, descending to the level of practice, it is impossible to give an unambiguous answer. This is where nuances come into play. In some cases, laying laminate flooring on parquet flooring yourself is possible. In some cases, no.

To make a final decision, you need to rely on the requirements of the joint venture (building regulations) for the base of the floor under the laminate. The surface should be:

durable - dies that bend under the weight of a person or furniture will very quickly break the locks of the slats (as a rule, this happens when the floor is creaky);
flat. A height difference of 2 mm per 1 m2 and a slope of no more than 20 mm over a large floor area or no more than 0.2% of the length of the room are allowed, which applies to apartments (SP 29.13330.2011);
dry, since the panel locks actively absorb water and quickly fail on a wet base.

One more point should be added to the listed points: the absence of fungus on the parquet.

Thus, to give an unambiguous answer as to whether laminate can be laid on parquet can only be assessed by assessing the condition of the old coating. If at least one point is not observed, lamellas cannot be laid on the parquet. However, parquet flooring can be restored to a state where laying slats is possible.

There is one more limitation here - it has been calculated that it is economically profitable to restore (repair) the floor covering if the area of damage does not exceed 40%. For a larger area of repair work, it is still better to disassemble the floor and lay a new floor covering on concrete, following the laminate installation technology.

Can laminate be installed over old parquet?

There are quite a lot of reasons for wanting to lay down “fresh” flooring rather than renewing the old one. The shortest list looks something like this:

It is usually preferred to lay laminate flooring on parquet when the old planks and dies are worn out, but still retain the same integrity and packing density;
There is an opportunity to save on installing laminate flooring. Dismantling old parquet will require a considerable investment of time and effort.

There is a certain kind of misconception that an old floor can become a source of unpleasant odors, dust and creaking sounds. Sometimes craftsmen fuel such rumors with stories that parquet boards sealed under laminate can rot or become deformed from the accumulation of water vapor. Creaking may appear, as well as pathogenic microflora, but this is the exception rather than the rule. To avoid such problems, before laying laminate flooring on old parquet, you must carefully prepare the old wooden base before laying the slats.

Replacing floors in an apartment

Replacement of floors in residential premises is usually carried out during major renovations.

But also the need to lay a new floor covering is dictated by the fact that the old one has become hopelessly dilapidated.

This fully applies to parquet floors. Despite its reliability and durability, even such a coating that has been tested for centuries can become completely unusable during operation.

Of course, it is possible to renew solid wood floors by sanding, but there comes a time when it is no longer possible to revive the parquet.

How to lay laminate on a parquet board: pros and cons

The most important advantage is that the slats can be laid on the parquet quite quickly. With the proper level of preparation, the entire procedure for installing a new coating will take no more than one or two days. In addition, the process of preparing parquet itself does not require any radical changes in the owners’ routine. Even when mechanically processing an old parquet floor to install a new laminate, residents lose practically nothing. The parquet remains in place, you can walk on it and use it, and you can put down the slats at the most convenient time for you. If you remove the parquet down to the concrete, it will be impossible to live in this room. Until the new floor can be laid, residents will have to either move or move into adjacent rooms.

Laminate is a more modern and practical material

The second advantage is that after laying the laminate on the floor, a kind of layer cake is formed from a very durable wooden base, soft cushioning material and a beautiful, reliable and wear-resistant laminate.

Important! If it suddenly turns out that the concrete base requires additional grinding or leveling, then in order to be able to lay the laminate without patches, the estimate may increase by at least 20%, and the time required to lay the laminate flooring will double.

The decision to lay on parquet also has negative sides:

Rough preparation and cosmetic repairs of old parquet require quite a lot of effort and time; you will need to level the surface, repair the dies and carry out preventive maintenance in areas of possible squeaking;
If the old parquet floor has been flooded with water at least once, but not dried according to current rules, then the coating may emit an unpleasant swampy smell of old water.

In both cases, problems are solved, although this requires time and certain funds. If such problems cannot be solved with traditional methods, then it is best to remove the old parquet and install laminate. This will be cheaper and more reliable, however, the decision must be made at the inspection stage, before the new floor is laid.

Defective parquet should be disposed of without regret.

Imprisonment

The subsequent operations of laying the laminate are practically no different from the procedure for performing the same work in the case of a subfloor, including eliminating scratches on the laminate.

If you use the advice we kindly provided, laying a new laminate on an old parquet base will happen without any unforeseen situations.

If you are interested in additional information on this issue, you can find out from the video you watched, the link to which is posted below.

Sources

https://pol-exp.com/mozhno-li-klast-laminat-na-parket/
https://centro-pol.ru/mozhno-li-klast-laminat-na-parket.html
https://DomZastroika.ru/interior/mozhno-li-na-staryj-parket-polozhit-laminat.html
https://bouw.ru/article/ukladka-laminata-na-parket-mozhno-li-i-kak-polozhit-pol
https://laminatika.ru/ukladka/ukladka-laminata-na-laminat-ili-parket
https://StroyGuru.com/remont-kvartiry/pol/mozhno-li-i-kak-polozhit-laminat-na-staryj-parket/
https://laminatguru.com/ukladka-na-pol/mozhno-li-klast-laminat-na-parket-prostye-otvety-2.html

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Ways to lay laminate on parquet

There are three main options for installing laminate flooring on parquet floors. They all differ in the amount of preparation, money spent and quality of installation.

Most often, craftsmen suggest laying laminate flooring on old parquet as follows:

Lay the slats on the old floor with an intermediate layer of OSB, fiberboard or plywood;
Clean installation of laminate flooring on parquet floors. In this case, the parquet boards are repaired, the surface is sanded and leveled by machine to the required level;
The most unusual method involves pre-filling the repaired parquet with a leveling mixture.

If the first two options do not require any special preparation and are widely used before laying lamellas on an old wooden base, then the last method is used, as a rule, in ancient buildings, when dismantling the parquet board is impossible, and the quality of the old floor requires additional strengthening surfaces using special means. Such methods are used mainly in the restoration of old buildings, so for the average ordinary apartment owner they may turn out to be too expensive and complicated.

Preparing the parquet base

If the decision to install lamella boards on a parquet floor has been made, you need to figure out how to lay the laminate on the old parquet correctly. To do this, you need to carry out preparatory work, which includes:

inspection of the floor as a whole and each block separately;
repair of problem areas;
finding places where rivets creak;
eliminating squeaks;
sanding the base of the floor.

During a visual inspection, it is determined how uneven the floor is, there are damaged planks, traces of rot, and places where rivets have been removed.

However, in this way it is impossible to determine the strips that have come off the base. To do this, tap each die with a wooden or rubber hammer. A well-held parquet will make dull sounds, while loose rivets will make ringing or booming sounds. Such strips are marked.

At the next stage, the defective planks are removed and the resulting voids are filled with pieces of chipboard, plywood, fiberboard or boards cut to the shape of the removed parquet. It is also practiced to seal voids with putty or plaster mortar.

In this case, it is not allowed for the inserts to be thinner than the floor. They can be a couple of millimeters thicker - they will be removed during sanding (scraping) of the old floor, or they can be flush with the surface of the parquet.

If the voids are not filled, then in these places, under the weight of a person or the legs of furniture (a chair with a person sitting on it is enough), the laminated coating will bend, destroying the locking joints (locks are designed for a vibration amplitude of 1 mm).

The planks with mold are removed (this must be done without fail), and the area is treated with antiseptics and filled with available materials.

Loose or loose dies are fixed with glue (mastic) or attached to the base of the floor (screed) with self-tapping screws.

If the restoration work does not give a positive result, you can resort to the proven method and put plywood on the parquet, if, of course, the height of the ceilings allows, and assemble a new floor on it.

Features of laying laminate flooring on old parquet

Before attempting to lay new flooring over old flooring, there are two very important procedures that must be followed. First, you need to check the condition of each parquet board, inspect it individually, check whether it has come off from the mastic glue and whether it sits tightly in place. For those who are encountering parquet for the first time, it will be useful to know that all elements of the parquet set are laid on the floor with a certain gap. As the coating ages, the dies wear out and the gaps increase. The floor begins to play, so it is extremely important to bring it to life before laying the laminate.

The floor must be repaired before laying the laminate

Secondly, parquet floors wear out unevenly; after only 5-10 years of use, depressions form on the surface from wood worn down by shoe soles. Therefore, before laying the laminate, it is necessary to measure the level of the old parquet, mark with a marker the places that will definitely need to be sanded and leveled.

The Importance of Sanding

During preparatory work, partial strengthening of the parquet base is always required. It is necessary to remove the entire parquet block and process it from the inside out with a drill and an abrasive wheel. Sandpaper processing is acceptable. After processing, the parquet block is smeared with glue and returned to its original place. Additionally, the block is strengthened by tapping and driving in nails with a punch.

Unevenness of the parquet base in the form of swelling can be eliminated by using the grinding method. Sanding is often used. In rare cases, it is supplemented with scraping.

Grinding is carried out using special equipment. After the procedure, some parquet floors lose stability. Nails and glue will be required to secure the slabs tightly to the base.

How to lay laminate on old parquet: step-by-step instructions

Identified problematic and flapping boards must first be repaired. Usually the old board is cut out of the set and replaced with a new one. The board is laid on polyurethane or epoxy glue, and the protruding seams and edges are sanded with a hand grinder to the level of the coating.

Simply flapping boards can be pulled to the base with ordinary self-tapping screws. Separately, entire sections of several planks that rose above the general floor level are noted. They will need to be leveled with a sander.

Floor preparation

After all the boards have been examined, studied inside and out, and the most vulnerable areas have been identified and repaired, it is necessary to measure the floor covering again. Using a steel profile and a two-meter building level, or using a conventional two-beam laser system, the locations of dips and bulges in the parquet are determined.

Sanding will eliminate laminate hanging

Grinding of old parquet begins precisely from the places where bulging of individual planks occurred. The result of processing individual areas must be constantly monitored using a building level. After all the largest defects have been removed from the parquet, they proceed to complete sanding of the floor. Since this is just preparation, you need to remove a small layer, the main thing is to level the floor.

If the old floor has “pits”, then you will have to lay plywood

If you plan to lay the laminate on an intermediate sublayer of plywood, then it would be correct to first cut, carry and lay the material on the sanded floor. Even if you don’t pull the plywood to the parquet base, this layout allows you to identify places where the sheets are hanging or the seams are not joining. It is clear that plywood is temporarily loaded with pressure from heavy things and objects. If you adjust the seams and joints correctly, then laying laminate flooring will be easier than on concrete.

Once the joining problems have been resolved, you can lay the plywood directly on the parquet and fix it with self-tapping screws. In the area of future seams, it is advisable to glue the strips with acrylic resin or varnish.

Materials and tools

To lay laminate flooring, you will need the same set of tools and accessories as when laying out the material on a new base:

Tape measure, building level, marker;
Laminate cutter, you can use a jigsaw or a circular saw;
Rubber hammer, pad for tamping laminate;
Paint brush for cleaning grooves and locks on slats.

In addition, you will definitely need underlay material and gaskets to secure the flooring around the perimeter of the room. To work with the lining you will need a sharp knife or scissors, tape and a stapler with large staples. Sometimes it is useful to secure individual sections of underlayment directly to the hardwood flooring.

Do it yourself laying laminate flooring on parquet

The technology for installing lamellas is practically no different from traditional methods. First of all, the lining material is laid, which is fixed around the perimeter with staples; in the remaining area, the joints between the panels are taped.

Laying the laminate begins from the far wall; if the lamellas are laid directly on the lining material rolled onto the parquet, then it is necessary to monitor how the individual parquet planks behave. Sometimes it happens that during the preparation some of the problem boards are missed and left loose. Therefore, it would be right to once again check how strong the base remains.

How to prevent the floor from creaking later

A visual inspection cannot reveal another important defect - creaking parquet. Only walking across the entire area of the room helps to find places where the floor begins to creak under the weight of a person. If you do nothing, then after laying the new flooring there will be complete silence when walking for some time. But as the locks wear out, unpleasant sounds will begin to appear.

There are several ways to fix the problem:

Drill a hole between the creaking parquet floors and drive a wooden chip into it, pre-lubricated with PVA glue, and cut it flush with the floor.
Firmly attach the planks to the base of the floor with glue or self-tapping screws (both methods can be used simultaneously).

The squeaky strips are attached with self-tapping screws.

Screw 3-4 short self-tapping screws between the slats.

The preparatory work is completed by sanding the parquet (height differences are insignificant) or scraping, when it is necessary to remove tubercles 4-7 mm high.

Tips on how to install laminate flooring on old parquet

The worse the condition of the parquet base, the more effort and money you have to spend on preparing for installation. Sometimes you just get lucky with parquet, for example, you come across a good oak floor laid on a classic resin base.

It is extremely difficult to get rid of mastic

In this case, the parquet boards not only do not play, they usually sit tightly soldered into the base. Then the laminate can be laid directly on the board; you just need to sand the parquet, cut off the protruding parts and seal the chips with polyurethane resin. In this case, laying the material will cost much less, and the quality will be much higher. True, the laminate will have to be placed on the parquet with glue, but this will only make it more durable and rigid.

How to get rid of a squeak

It often happens that old parquet begins to make sounds due to high humidity or improper care of the material. Before laying a new floor, you can check whether the old one will squeak. To do this, open the windows at night, and in the morning you can come in and walk on the parquet. You can even hold some weight in your hands so that the load on the parquet is greater. If it creaks, then before laying the laminate, the parquet must be thoroughly dried and treated with hot wax mastic.

To prevent squeaking, you will need to treat it with wax mastic.

Where to start restoration?

To begin with, I would like to say a few words about the restoration of parquet flooring. The first thing you need to start with is assessing the condition of the parquet and identifying its main problems. Here it is necessary to clearly determine by what percentage the parquet is damaged: if it is within 50%, then it still makes sense to restore it. In most cases it is cheaper and faster.

First you need to restore the old parquet

Restoration of a parquet base usually takes place in several stages. First, the parquet is tested for strength. Old planks should not dangle. If such a phenomenon is observed, then it is necessary to secure them by gluing or nailing. You will also have to fill all the cracks and crevices, and, just in case, treat possible insects such as bark beetles. If the parquet creaks, then it is important to get rid of the annoying squeak. After this, you can try to peel off the coating and varnish it.

But more often than not, people don’t want to do restoration. It’s easier to cover the old coating and update it by covering it with new material. And in this case, you can use laminate.

Laminate in packages

Reviews

Fadeev Semyon Anatolyevich, Ufa:

Parquet always fails for one reason, due to the fact that the floor waterproofing in the house is not done correctly. If you put laminate on such parquet, then be sure that in a couple of years the new floor will creak and clap as if it were a hundred years old. Therefore, before laying the lamellas, the parquet must be treated with an acrylic primer, and use only pressed pine needles as a substrate. It is better not to glue the lamellas. From my experience I know that water vapor escapes easily from pine needles, the floor itself dries very quickly, does not creak or rot. The idea of laying it on parquet is very clever and easy to implement if you have at least some experience working with floors.

Sergey Pankratov, Moscow:

We bought a dacha relatively inexpensively, and there was parquet flooring; we didn’t even notice it right away. We wanted to roll out linoleum, but then changed our minds. In order for the laminate to fit perfectly, you need to wait until summer. The material can only be placed on completely dry parquet. I had to sand it twice because after the first pass I had to replace several pieces that had fallen out. The material was laid as usual, without any adhesives or impregnations. Only in the fall, during heavy rains, does it begin to creak, but this is easily eliminated by treatment. The work is not difficult, it is quite within the capabilities of an ordinary man with his hands.

Preparatory work

Like any type of repair or finishing work, replacing a floor covering involves preparing the material and tools necessary for installation, as well as high-quality and competent preparation of the surface.

Materials and tools

To carry out high-quality work on laying lamellas, you should prepare:

electric jigsaw and hacksaw;
construction tape;
laser or simple construction level;
hammer and mallet;
screwdriver

If necessary, you can reassemble the parquet boards and secure the base in the form of sheet plywood or chipboards

Preparing the base

The stages of preparing a wooden parquet base for laying laminate are standard and involve:

attracting loose and creaking parquet boards to the concrete base using galvanized screws;
thorough filling of all cracks and shallow gaps;
smoothing out small irregularities using a hand sander.

If necessary, you can reassemble the parquet boards and secure the base in the form of sheet plywood or chipboards. Any differences in height exceeding four millimeters require pouring a self-leveling screed. In addition, the joint areas along the perimeter of the walls should be sealed using sealant or putty. Adhesive tape can be used for sealing.

A properly prepared surface allows for quick installation of lamellas.

Preparatory work

Materials and tools

To carry out high-quality work on laying lamellas, you should prepare:

electric jigsaw and hacksaw;
construction tape;
laser or simple construction level;
hammer and mallet;
screwdriver

Preparing the base

The stages of preparing a wooden parquet base for laying laminate are standard and involve:

attracting loose and creaking parquet boards to the concrete base using galvanized screws;
thorough filling of all cracks and shallow gaps;
smoothing out small irregularities using a hand sander.

Tools and material for preparatory work

Screwdriver or screwdriver.
Construction spatula, for applying mastic or putty.
Level for measuring slope.
Chisel, for removing individual irregularities.
Knife.
Assembly crowbar for dismantling individual elements.
Grinding machine or grater.
Hacksaw or electric jigsaw.

New coating should only be laid on a clean and dry surface. Therefore, you will need a container for garbage, a dustpan, a brush or a mop; if there is little garbage and it is small, then you can collect the garbage with a vacuum cleaner.

Material

Putty, for filling unevenness.
Universal glue.
Plywood to level the floor.
Self-tapping screws must be selected in such a way that, after screwing in, they go at least two centimeters into the base under the old floor. The heads of screws and nails must be recessed.
Sanding wheels and sandpaper.

After completing the preparatory work, you can begin laying the new laminate. You will need additional tools. You also need to prepare enough material.

Additional tools needed

Roulette.
Rubber mallet.
Construction angle 90°.
Pencil.
Wooden blocks to set the required distance from the wall.
Clamp for mounting the last strip.

Successful examples

Examples of stylish interiors allow you to evaluate the work to transform the room. For example, in many houses and cottages today you can find beautifully stylized laminate flooring, which is almost the same in installation technology as before. There are no less successful examples of a similar floor using the example of a one-room apartment. For example, the base is a subfloor with a concrete screed 70 mm lower than the required level.

Laying the laminate in this case is possible in two ways:

using a thermal screed (expanded clay with cement mortar);
using sheets of plywood on a wooden floor.

Dismantling the old floor in an apartment is faster and easier. For reliability, fiberboard scraps are placed under the logs. To avoid sagging under the plywood at the base of the floor, additional bars are laid in such a way that they are flush with the joists. As an additional fastener, the entire structure is threaded with self-tapping screws. There's nothing complicated about it.

The laying of a new coating itself requires skill and experience in working with a building level (the error in evenness is permissible no more than 2 mm per 1 meter). Laying plywood as a substrate should have a thickness of no more than 10 mm. Sheets of plywood are laid between the joists in such a way as to prevent the floor from sagging. The edges of the sheets should rest on the joists. To avoid floor creaking, the seams of plywood sheets (backing) are laid with a gap of about 2-3 mm at a distance of 5 mm from the wall.

Installing an artistic variety of laminate flooring in a country house is one of the fashion trends. This is another example of using laminate. In this case, wide laminate panels with an artistic design or ornament inspired by natural materials are used. This flooring looks like expensive parquet. Laying the material is not particularly difficult even for a beginner.

Artistic laminate has its own subtleties: you need to follow the pattern and carefully adjust the stripes at the joints according to the pattern. You should focus on the finished image according to the instructions. The principle of laying this laminate is similar to the usual one. The only difference is that the art material cannot be hammered to shrink it during the laying process.

Laying panels overlapping is also excluded; it is not customary to make thresholds when moving to the next room while laying the floor. An ideal fit is required along the edge of the wall, since this will determine how the pattern will lie. Even a 1mm misalignment can result in noticeable contrast. If you take into account all these nuances, the floor will be greatly transformed as a result. Interior design completely benefits from this.