I would like to replace my carpet with a real hard wood floor., but my floor under the carpet is cement. Can any one give me advise as to how I go about this. want to do it myself.
it can be done as stated above but it is not practical , if they ever have to bust up the slab for water or sewage problems the floor is gone ..
go to home depot and take a class it is free and then buy a flooring book
We had parquet laid over the cement floor in our basement. There is no apparent water in our basement, but were unable to keep the parquet wood floors down. They were constantly popping up. We then laid ceramic. Love it.
It can be a big job. You can use an engineered wood floor and glue it down (This is not like laminate more like plywood, the top layer is relatively thick and could be refinished years down the road if needed). First you have to make sure you don't have excessive moisture in the slab. Seal it if needed. I have a glue down hardwood floor my bedroom is 25+ years old and a few years ago did the rest of my house. It's fine. If you want to DIY do some reading about it first. Get a how to book on-line or at a home improvement center. It is certainly doable. The comment about access, regardless of your flooring choice ripping up the slab will obviously ruin the floor, so I don't think that is a consideration. Tile doesn't like being ripped up either.
Both engineered and solid wood flooring can be installed over concrete. If the floor is below grade however, no solid wood can be used, only engineered, which means a 3, 5, or 7 ply prefinished board. Hardwood on concrete should be glued whether it is solid or engineered. 3/4 hardwood cannot be glued down so you'll need to use a 3/8, 5/16, or 1/2 board. Be sure that the cement subfloor does not contain excessive moisture. You can do this yourself with a calcium chloride test. DO NOT seal concrete before gluing down hardwood. If you do, the glue will not adhere properly and there is a very high chance that the floor will fail. There are also real wood floors that are designed to be floated. They lay on a foam underlayment and are not attached to the subfloor in any way but simply glued together. These products are easier to install but are not yet perfected in my opinion. They have a tendency to peak, sound hollow, and seperate. I suggest glue down hardwood. Also get a book to provide you with some basic technique. Installing hardwood is pretty straightforward and you should have no major difficulty.
