Laminate over T&G Floorboards?

[Sapper]

My brother is getting a company in to refurbish his floors by getting rid of the old 70's carpet and installing a laminate wood floor in it's place.

The only thing is that under the carpet there are perfectly good floorboards, without any visible woodworm etc I reckon it would take a weekend's worth of sanding and a few coats of varnish to get them looking great.

My brother tells me his laminate-laying company have rejected the idea of renovating the floorboards, saying that laminate is a much better, harder-wearing surface. I think this opinion is a load of old pants, and my brother would be mad to cover up real wood with laminate. My brother is not convinced.

So is there any sense to covering T&G floorboards with laminate?

 

[WoodYouLike]

So is there any sense to covering T&G floorboards with laminate?

Depends. If it's on the ground floor in an 'old' house the floorboards are what in modern houses now is the concrete underfloor. Underneath the old floorboards you'll have your ventilation area. Normally meaning: draft!

If you're not that bothered with draft, yes, then you can sand the floorboards and seal (lacquer or oil) the boards. But 9 out of 10 times the boards are made of pine = softwood and will dent, damage very easily.

I for one wouldn't go for laminated (plastic) flooring anyway, but that's me in the Natural Wooden Flooring business Wood-Engineered flooring is much better, nicer and adds more value to your house than laminated flooring.