Q: I’m just bought a brand new house that was built on a concrete slab and the entire 1st floor is tiled. I would love to put in hardwood floors everywhere except the kitchen and powder room, but my husband believes we are limited to a thin, floating floor or ripping up the entire floor– neither of which sound like good choices. Please help! What are my options besides keeping the ugly tile?
A: With tile you have two installation options. The first and easiest option would be to float a floor. The good news about a floating floor is that they are very easy to install, and with right materials you can get a very good floor that will not only look great, but will stand up to the test of time.
Your other option would be to look into a glue down floor. The problem with a glue down installation over tile is that you will first have to rough up the surface of the tile in order to ensure the adhesive will properly adhere and cure. Glue down installations are fairly messy and are the most likely of all installs to fail if not done by a professional installer with experience with this type of install.
As far as product is concerned, you will not be forced to have a “thin” floor if you go with a floating install. Many high quality engineered hardwood floors which can be installed as a floating floor are around 1/2″ thick. Also, there are several very nice floating cork, bamboo and laminate floors which are thicker. The easiest way to make a floating floor perform well is to use a premium underlayment. Underlayment is the key to success with a floating floor.
The only limitation you will have is how tall you want your floor to be in the end once it is laid on the tile. Beyond this, the only alternative you have is to remove the tile and install directly over the subfloor.
I would like to put down a bamboo flooring. I was told that strand woven is the hardest bamboo there is. Is that correct? Can you float a bamboo floor?