I live in a condo and currently have 8" square oak parquet floors. The parquet is half an inch thick and glued down to the concrete subfloor (it is glued with a think black substance that I was told is tar). The flooring has been in the building for nearly 50 years and seems to be well intact other than a few loose pieces around the perimeter (which I will fix).

I purchased some laminate flooring that I intended to simply float over the existing parquet; however, I recently read that a floating floor should not be installed over an existing wood floor that is glued to a concrete subfloor.

I was told that removing the old parquet will be difficult because it was installed with tar and that the tar will leave a very uneven surface.

Can I simply float the floor over the parquet??

Thanks!

It may be 50 years old but that isn't tar, it is flooring adhesive. If your floor is solid and flat you can install laminate fllor using the required foam pad. Most laminates require you to use their foam to maintain the warranty.

Thanks for your response. I asked about removing the old wood floor because all the instructions I've seen (including the ones that came with the product and are therefore tied to the warrenty) indicated that you MUST not install a floating floor over an existing wood floor that is glued to concrete. I think this is because the old wood floor will continue to expand/contract and perhaps be too much for the laminate to take. Several people have told me this shouldn't be a problem, but it seems like all the manufacturers strongly recommend against this.

Also, if I'm putting the laminate throughout a 750 sq ft condo, do I need to put transition strips in all the doors? I will be doing one bedroom, the main living area and the kitchen.

Thanks again.

You should be able to lay laminate right through the doorway without a transition as long as there is no grade change. Don't forget to allow a 1/4 inch around the perimeter for your laminate expansion. Don't know the manufactureres reasoning but your parquet exppands less than a nailed oak floor on a sub floor. The laminate padding would create a slip surface so the parquet expansion matters zip.

I recently laid 750 square foot of bamboo laminate over a glued down parquet floor, I prepped it as well as possible and put a nicer underlayment with moisture barrier built in to take an imperfections out... 3 small bedrooms, hall and living room. My Dad helped me and said no to any transitions, (I should have wrote &%$#@ My Dad Says after that installation) we also probably cut it closer than 1/4 inch around some perimeters. It is all good! Looks great, only its doesn't have that total solid hard wood feel, just slightly different but its probably easier on the joints. Maybe due to the slight un-levelness of the floor in a few places. We did a great job, I don't think you could get the subfloor prepped much better, I worked on it forever, pouring leveling cement were tiles were missing, sanding tiles down, using a large level, etc... but it would take 3 more weeks to take all those floor tiles up adhered with that black tar glue. We put it down in a humid August in Ky, followed most all other instructions. Flooring from ifloors, strand woven bamboo, 2.49 sq ft, looks awesome! Underlayment was .69 sq ft It not hardwood but it is soooooo close, I'd give it a B+