What is likely to be under laminate flooring?

Chin

Hi all

we're moving into our new property in a couple of weeks which has artificial laminate flooring in the lounge, hall and kitchen.
It's pretty cheap.

we were hoping to pull it up and reveal the original floor boards underneath.
are these likely to still be there? would they be really damaged from the laminate flooring?

I know it's hard to answer on the internet without seeing it, but I'm worried once I pull the floor up i've commited to doing the job!

crazyguy

may be concrete, may be old floor boards that can or cannot look good once worked on

Your question here is, how long is a piece of string to be honest

Chin

i know...sorry

it's a victorian terraced house so I'm assuming old floor boards

just wondering if there's an easy way to find out rather than pulling up the whole room

System

Chin wrote: »

i know...sorry

it's a victorian terraced house so I'm assuming old floor boards

just wondering if there's an easy way to find out rather than pulling up the whole room

is there an access hatch somewhere else in the floor of an adjacent room? you might be able to see the underside of the floor if there is a crawl space, would be the least destructive way to find out - and there will be a hatch somewhere

penguingirl

Just out of interest why would anyone go to the effort of putting laminate over original wooden boards? I can understand that people carpet over them (as my parents found out!), but not sure why you'd laminate over. The only reason I can think is if they were in very bad condition.

Norman_Castle

just wondering if there's an easy way to find out rather than pulling up the whole room

Try removing a few boards along one edge. I have done this to trim a floor after the room became damp and the floor expanded.

Chin

thanks all

martinthebandit

Whatever it is that the person who put the laminate down wanted to hide. I suspect it won't be pretty

macman

In a Victorian terrace, odds are that it's a suspended timber floor, either the orignal floorboards, or replaced with chipboard flooring.

slipperyshoe

You can easily tell if its concrete; just get someone to jump up and down on the floor, it will be pretty obvious if its concrete or not. It cant tell you if it is floorboards, chipboard or any other type of flooring though. Remember that there are some nice floating floors (real wood you can lay onto concrete, (remember you vapour control layer though)). These tend to be fairly pricey but are simple to install.

SGE1

Have you not had a full structural survey done? This should have said what the floors are made of