I'm planning on gluing engineered flooring over a concrete slab in my living room, dining room and connecting hall. It's about a 700 square foot area. It's a new house; the slab was poured about a year ago, and this area has been carpeted for the last 6 months. It's located on very sandy soil, about 3 miles from the ocean, about half way between San Francisco and Los Angeles. I'm sure if I checked moisture content today, the slab would be very dry, because it hasn't rained in quite a while. However, when it decides to rain it can rain a bunch at once. Here is my question: Can I glue the flooring directly to the concrete, or should I put a sealer over the concrete first? What kind of glue should I use, and if I need a sealer, what kind of sealer? Thank you very much.

After 5 years in this house, my mom is ready to put some money into fixing it up. The whole house is parquet (except the bathrooms), and it's not in the best shape, cracked, dirty, loose boards, etc. It's pretty old. She is on a budget so I wanted to know if we could get laminate installed over it or if it has to be pulled up. Pulling it up or just refinishing it sounds pretty messy and expensive to me. What are her options? Thanks!