Laying new wood floor on old parquet subfloor

toothwiz

I was hoping that someone could kindly shed some light on my wood flooring dilemma.We live in a 1930s house which has a parquet floor resting on the joists and nothing else! The parquet is very old and many blocks have experienced cuts and would need replacing. It is a very costly undertaking and it would be simpler to replace with a new wood floor. However our wood fitter will not do it because there is no support for the parquet and if he is to put plywood over the parquet , then the new floor he said that over time the parquet would rot. There apparently is no where for the moisture to escape. His suggestion is to rip out the parquet put down ply and then floor. I do not want to rip out the parquet not to mention the hassle of the job and extra expense. Are there any other options? I have scoured the Internet and can't find any answers ,please help!

VfM4meplse

toothwiz wrote: »

The parquet is very old and many blocks have experienced cuts and would need replacing. It is a very costly undertaking and it would be simpler to replace with a new wood floor.

If you don't mind an imperfect floor, have you thought of sanding and varnishing the parquet? I suggest this as I think it looks so much better than wooden flooring or god forbid laminate.

jkpd

are you talking about your groundfloor?if so you have a suspended floor,floor joists with a cavity below,outside check your have air bricks and they havent been covered. Moisture?where from it should be dry thats what the air bricks are for.Moisture will rot the ply quicker than the wood!you need a underlay with membrane and foam built in (ebay) on top of exsisting floor,make sure joints are taped,engineered timber floor which will lay on top(floating floor)remove skirtings, skirtings will help to hold floor down and look better than a scotia covering gap if you leave skirting in place,dont forget 10mm expansion gap around edges.Avoid solid timber it will move unles you keep the room at a constant temp.ditch your fitter and find a good joiner approx 2 days work.:)

tony6403

I have never seen old parquet flooring laid straight onto joists and can't imagine how this has been be done. How thick is it and how long/wide are the blocks ? What are the spacings between the joists how is the parquet fixed to them ?
If there were ventilation problems under your floor there would probably already be signs of trouble , in particular the joists , after 70/80 years.

ed110220

I'm not sure what you mean by parquet being laid directly onto joists, as that sounds impossible. Parquet blocks are usually small, say 15x7cm very roughly, while joists are more than 30cm apart. You'd fall straight through the gaps between joists if there was nothing else to support the blocks. Are you sure you don't mean they've been laid on floorboards?