I am installing a bamboo floor (3/8 inch) in a small room (12ft x 11ft) in southern Arizona. The existing floor is a cherry parquet that is firmly glued to what appears to be a concrete subfloor. I would like to install plywood over the existing floor and then either glue or nail down the new floor. I would obviously prefer to nail down the new floor, but 3/4 inch plywood would be too thick for a transition into the hall. Can I use 1/2 inch plywood over the 1/4 inch parquet and nail down my new floor, or would this be too thin? Any suggestions appreciated.

Ernesto, is most likely the best one to fully answer your question better. he lives there and knows the conditions of that region.

I personally would pull the glued down parquet.

Moisture barriers may be needed and you don't want to put a moisture barrier over the parquet, or it may blow off the floor under the bamboo.

Well, the concrete floor has some sort of red coating on it (1/16 inch thick, fine-grained). I assumed that this was a moisture barrier. Maybe not?

Hi Susan, the red coating your looking at most likely is the finish coat of a colored concrete floor used on older homes in Tucson. They come in variety of other earth tones also and are back in fashion as many newer high end homes use it as well. In my opinion it is not advisable to go over the parquet. You will trap any vapor emissions coming out of the slab and as Perry mentioned cause irreparable damage to the new floor. Although, the smooth steel troweled surface may in fact be a blessing as the VE has a hard time going through that surface. VE testing is important, but hey its a crap shoot anyhoo. If the old flooring held up ok then I'd say go for it.

Also, if my assumption is correct, these colored finished concrete floors are so smooth, any adhesive hardly has anything to grab. My advice to you is remove the parquet along with the old adhesive as best as possible and scarify the concrete, and do some calcium chloride tests. At the very least remove the parquest and adhesive.

Is this a solid bamboo or engineered? If its engineered floating it would be your best bet.

Call me if you like, I am in the book under flooring.

Susan,

the parquet must be removed. Even if you mave minimal vapor emissions, they will become trapped in the parquet as soon as you cover it up with anything. (that means ANYTHING) This will result in a catatrophic failure. It is a given. There is no "what if" about that one. It is a guaranteed failure from the get go.

Please forgive the redundancy of my message. I figured you might like a third opinion.



Call Stephen. He is a good guy. He will fix you up.

He talks funny,though. He has an accent.

Stephen, how many phone calls do you get asking for Ernesto?

You guys are blowing my cover.

I get calls a lot from DIY'ers after the fact, when the job is totally screwed up, no undercutting, no expansion gap, wrong adhesive ect.

I basically do not believe in helping DIY'ers all that much, but I givem just enough info to hang themselves. Perty soon every bimbo (no offense susan) in the world will think they can do our trade. And you can thank corporate America for that. They figure if the man says you can DIY it then they can sell more product.

Funny thing is that even as crappy as the job may look, many DIY'ers think their job is a work of art.

How many other trades have their manufactures divising DIY products and kits designed to weed the professional outa the picture? Plumbers? Electricians? Drywall?

Autozone,Pike ,Home Depot,corner hardware store,etc.

Those are not manufactures.

Not that I want to derail this thread any more than it already has been, but. . .

Ernesto, how do we contact you if we don't know who you are?

Can you send me a message? I'm in Tucson as well and would like to know if you would be able/willing to install a floating bamboo floor over stick-down linoleum tiles over concrete (there is currently carpet over the linoleum). I don't know how old the stuff is, but it's probably old enough that there is asbestos in the tiles and in the mastic. The house is 50 years old.

Thanks,
Moses

This is Ernesto's email address floormeintucson@comcast.net.