Hi everyone,

So I'm a new diyer and have just bought my first house.

Our house was built in 1958 and is a 2 story. In the late 90's an upstairs extension was built over the front half of the house. We decided to rip out the carpets in the upstairs as they were disgusting and we found beautiful hardwood floors that match the downstairs but only in the rear half of the house (the original part) The front half only has plywood under the carpet.

The problem I am faced with is the plywood in the extension is the same level as the hardwood floors in the original part.

What can I do change the plywood for hardwood to match the original?

Many thanks
Duncan

 

Put hardwood over the plywood and put in a transition where the two floors meet.

 

Thanks XSleeper.

We had thought about that, but would give us a good 3/4 inch step up and we ideally wanted to keep it level throughout. Any way to do it and keep it level?

 

I was thinking about swapping out the ply for a thinner one then using a 5/16 hardwood on top to keep the levels the same?

 

To go thin enough to make it level the new plywood wouldn't be thick enough to support the hardwood. There really isn't any options other than embracing the difference or apply new flooring over the entire 2nd floor.

 

Plus trying to match flooring that is possibly 50+ years is going to be very difficult so other than removing the old, leveling up and installing new you are going to have an obvious transition!

 

Thanks everyone.

So after further investigation I have found that the top level of plywood is only 1/2 inch thick. Under this is more plywood that is level in height with the original part of the house subfloor, which is made using 1x6 diagonally across the joists.

My hardwood flooring is the 1/2 inch x 1&1/2 inch Red Oak kind. So from what i can tell, I can simply put new 1/2 x 1&1/2 hardwood flooring over the lower level of plywood which should in fact be my sub floor. Also if i sand both the new and old hardwood, then stain it, will it still notice as being quite different?

Kind regards
Duncan

 

I think you'll have a hard time finding narrow oak flooring, what is used today is wider. You can get the stain color close using the wider flooring.

 

I've found the same flooring online at flooring.org will it still look quite different though as the wood is 50 years newer ?

 

There will be some difference, how much is dependent on both the old's current shape and how it's finished. Since it most likely transitions at a doorway I doubt it will be all that noticeable.