Sub-Floors & Installation

Sub-floor Type...
Plywood...You're a Winner!

Rejoice, plywood is the ideal sub-floor!  It's very durable and responds to water with great strength and resilience.   

You can nail down a solid plank to it.

You can glue down to it.

You can float over it.
     
OSB (Oriented Strand Board)...You're still OK.

OSB board isn't the best, but it'll do.  It holds up well over time and is fairly durable against water. You won't have to tear it out.

You can nail down solid plank flooring over it.

You can also glue down to it.

You can, of course, float over it.
     
Particle Board sub-floor...Ouch, not good! But don't despair, you still have options.

Particle board is the big stinker of the bunch.  It swells and crumbles when it gets wet and it chips to pieces when you nail to it.

If you were thinking about nailing down a solid plank flooring to it, forget it!  For that, you'll have to tear it out and replace it with plywood or OSB.  Some manufacturers claim that you can use tiny staples and fasten engineered flooring or 1/4" solid plank to it but I wouldn't recommend it.

You can, however, glue down a thin engineered floor to particle board.  Before installation, reinforce all the sub-floor sheets by screwing them to the floor joists below.  Also grind down seams between sheets to ensure a level sub-floor to work with.  These steps cost extra, but it a LOT cheaper than replacing the sub-floor!

You can, of course, float a floor over it.

 
     
Concrete Slab...Durable but limiting.

Slabs are a special class.  Very durable and fairly easy to control moisture, but you can't nail to them. 

You can glue down many types of flooring to a slab, including; 1/4", 1/2" and 5/8"  solid planks,  engineered planks, vinyl composite and commercial carpet.

If you really had your heart set on a nail down flooring, you can install a sleeper sub-floor and/or nail down plywood to the slab then nail to that.  Both of these systems add significant costs!

You can install a floating floor over it.