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Installing true wood floors, composite wood floors, or "pergo style" wood floors isn't technically that difficult. It does, however require some basic woodworking skills and a decent amount of tools that a lot of readers may not have just sitting about. Oh ya, and some good old fashioned elbow grease. You will bang up your hands doing this. I have installed wood floors in my townhome, my brother's home, and my parent's home.

Square rooms are easy. Hallways and rooms with multiple angled not are *NOT*. You can always do the easy stuff yourself and call in the experts for the finish work.

You really need a chop saw, a jig saw, and you *MUST* get a japanese saw to do the lintels. The flexible japanese saw will save you so much heartache when you cut the lintels on the doorframe. Seriously. Also if your wood floor isn't floating type, you really need a nailgun/staplegun and compressor. If you want to get done in any decent time frame.

Pre inished floors are the way to go. Finishing floors is best left to the professionals. It can be done, but it's a huge pain.

One last thing. Unless you are cutting outside, putting in wood flooring is best left until it's warm enough to open the windows. Some of the more exotic hardwoods are bad for you if you breathe in the sawdust.

I am buying a home that has flooring that looks like parquet, but it is actually composed of square hardwood tiles--not the intricate patterns you see with parquet. Has anyone seen such a thing? (It is in a home built in the 50s.) I am trying to determine if they should be refinished or replaced.
The floor is basically right atop concrete, so if we have them replaced, we will have to determine if there is a way to seal the concrete adequately, as we don't want to put in a wood subfloor that will cause a door problem, etc. Alternately, I guess we could go with an engineered wood flooring type less susceptible to water.
Any advice?

"You can always do the easy stuff yourself and call in the experts for the finish work."

I certainly wouldn't recommend that - First, it's insulting to the expert to be called in for half a job, they often have their own ways of doing things which will necessitate them taking apart some or all the work you've already done and cost you more in the long run. Finally, if there's a problem with any part of the installation, they won't back their work because it was your fault.

Better to call them in to do the entire job properly if you can't do it yourself 100%.

"I am trying to determine if they should be refinished or replaced."

No way of knowing without at least a photo - It's best to call in a professional for their expert opinion.

of course--maybe you'll see me soon as a "good question."
I am just in the throes of first time buyer excitement. And I cannot find anything about these type of floors online anywhere, leaving me clueless as to if they are "gems" or "junk."

ValHalla - If they are real wood, I don't see why you couldn't refinish them, assuming they are still attached to the original concrete floor. Depends on the floor and if there is a bunch of water damage Some older wood floors are glued directly to the concrete, but that's not really done anymore since water damage and condensation can be a real issue. There are "look alike" tiles that that are linoleum-like materials that glue directly on concrete.

If you put down new floor (remember to sand the glue off the old if it's glued down) it's typical to put down a vapor barrier over the concrete to keep the moisture out then you don't need to seal the floor with anything special. It's basically the felt they describe above on a plastic backing with a specialty plastic tape for the seams. When doing this a "floating" floor (a wood floor that isn't nailed down, hence "floats" above the concrete) would probably be the way to go if you can.

That's helpful FF, thanks!
Off to do more research.

So, about those directions in the post. Asphalt felt? Under a floor? This is madness. I know people do it, but they do it when they're laying over concrete that is damp because it was not properly waterproofed. In that case I would get a waterproofing specialist in to seal the floor (there are some nice paint-on crystalline sealers) before proceeding, and I'd definitely put down sleepers before attaching the floor.

And yet those pictures show asphalt paper on a plywood subfloor. Unbelievable. Asphalt paper under a floor reeks. It should not be inside the envelope of your house. Ugh.

Also, regarding the parquet floor tiles: they still sell those; any flooring store will have them. They're usually engineered wood, and depending on the brand may or may not be refinishable by sanding and resealing. And don't condemn the floor as damp until you've checked it out.

Valhalla- you could also post photos on the forums at oldhouseweb.com. that site is tremendously helpful for renovation questions; the board users really know their stuff.

I have to agree with ayse.

Asphalt?

Better to use red rosin paper.

can you do wood floors that aren't tongue and groove? can you use large plywood sheets that you seal after nailing down? or reclaimed timber boards? or ???

Joan, you can put anything on your floor that you are willing to walk on.

I saw a floor done in OSB (oriented strand board, looks like random fiber pattern, used for sheathing) with several layers of finish over it (OSB is very delicate) that was just stunning. Plywood (especially finish-grade plywood) could look very nice. And reclaimed timber is very trendy (and VERY VERY EXPENSIVE).

Tongue and groove is popular because it is designed to stay tight and flat to the floor even as the house and the floor move due to changes in temperature and humidity and so forth. It's not the law.

We installed used hardwood flooring in our first house. It had been reclaimed from a school gym that was to be torn down. A HUGE amount of work because the tongue and groove of each and every board had to be cleaned, as decades worth of gunk had accumulated. Plus, many planks were not straight. So I guess a word of warning on being green -- it can take a lot of work.

And a note about finishing... here in Europe, a popular finish that I wish would become more popular in North America is that of a simple oiled or waxed natural finish -- no urethane or varnish. Just gorgeous.

Isn't this a very old school application of hardwood flooring? For a DIY project, isn't floating an engineered floor much simpler? It requires practically zero nailing, and you're only gluing the tongues/grooves (not the floor). It seems that tongue nailing a solid wood floor is a recipe for disaster for the non-pro...

"It seems that tongue nailing a solid wood floor is a recipe for disaster for the non-pro..."

It's pretty straightforward, even with crooked planks. Don't see why it should be a "recipe for disaster", and it is more beautiful than an engineered floor any day.

mschatelaine, how can you tell the difference between a solid floor and an engineered floor after it has been installed?

"how can you tell the difference between a solid floor and an engineered floor after it has been installed?"

Many cheaper engineered floors use very thin veneers for their surfaces, so you end up seeing thin little lines of the substrate at the joints...

...and laminated faux-wood floors like Pergo have wide planks that are made to look like 3 narrower strips put together - so the resulting tripled end joints look like nothing that a professional installer would ever do with real wood.

I repaired nailed T&G oak floors and refinished one (those drum sanders can be tricky). And I've done a floating kit floor, and most recently floated bamboo planks with glued T&G. It's all relatively easy if you have lots of time and don't get in a big hurry.

The most important item is a good set of kneepads.

I think the best way to go for a d-i-y'er would be a floating kit with snap together pieces (edge gluing is old school, but I scored my bamboo on Craigslist and didn't want to redo the particle board subfloor so it would hold nails).

Greetings! I am so fortunate to have found this website! I now have a garage full of used hardwood flooring planks salvaged from a friend's house. Over half of it has been de-nailed, thank goddness.

If anyone that has installed USED hardwood could give me any tips, I would appreciate it!

mschatelaine, how did you clean the tongue and grooves? Lighty hand-sand? Can you lay "slightly" warped planks? Can you "force" them straight by nailing them? Did you have a slight gap between planks? How bad does that look after refinishing? When playing with the pieces, they don't seem to fit as tight as new wood planks, of course. Wood fill putty? (Ugh) I was warned about recycled wood. Very labor intensive. It would have gone to the dump. HAVE I MADE A HUGE MISTAKE???