Recently purchased my first home, and the previous owners had carpeted over the existing (I'm assuming original) hardwood floors. Took the carpet out with hopes to refinish the wood, but discovered the floors were ruined. The previous owner had driven large roofing nails into every single board (sometimes up to 4 nails per board) I'm assuming to stop squeaks. Had a flooring guy come out to assess the damage, and said that refinishing was out of the question. So I decided to have an engineered floor installed on top of the existing hardwood.

I purchased the Bruce engineered oak, in gunstock, at Lowes, and had them install it. They did a great job, and I inspected the installation while they were doing it so I know they left proper room between the edge of the floor and the wall for expansion.

In some areas, the boards move, or sink down slightly. You can't really tell while you're walking on it, but if you watch someone else walking on it from across the room you can see the boards dip. I'm assuming there are just areas in the original wood that are uneven, and that is what's causing this. My question is, will the floor eventually "settle into" the uneven spots, in effect taking the shape of the wood floor underneath as the floors are walked on? All in all, the slight movement is not a big deal and I'm very happy with the results. This is my first experience with a floating floor, so I want to know what to expect in the future.

Thanks!

No, not in a floating installation. If there are any uneven spots in the subfloor, you will always have movement. The bigger question is, how much movement is there? If it is very slight, and the subfloor was checked for flatness and was within Bruce's tolerance requirements, you shouldn't have any problems. If the subfloor was outside of their specifications and you're getting a good amount of downward deflection, you're likely to experience some creaking/squeaking as the boards rub against one another, and with that product (Lock and Fold, I assume?) you could actually see the end joints separate over time.

No, not in a floating installation. If there are any uneven spots in the subfloor, you will always have movement. The bigger question is, how much movement is there? If it is very slight, and the subfloor was checked for flatness and was within Bruce's tolerance requirements, you shouldn't have any problems. If the subfloor was outside of their specifications and you're getting a good amount of downward deflection, you're likely to experience some creaking/squeaking as the boards rub against one another, and with that product (Lock and Fold, I assume?) you could actually see the end joints separate over time.

Thanks for the info. There really isn't much movement. The floor has a smooth semi-glossy finish to it, so its only noticeable because the light shifts on the shiny boards when it moves. The floor feels solid when walking on it, with just a slight bounce (which is fine with me, its actually quite comfortable to walk on).

Did they actually check the floor flatness? There are ways to flatten a wood substrate. This movement could lead to disengagement of the locking mechanism over time. But then all floaters do have that flatness spec and do move slightly unless your substrate is perfect. I never have seen perfect.

I've never encountered perfect either and it sounds like your floor is performming within spec. I wouldn't worry too much about it unless you can actually feel the deflection when walking on the floor.