Hardwood Floor Installation in Marietta, GA

Hardwood floor installation in Marietta starts below the surface. A nailed solid floor, three-quarter-inch boards in most cases, holds only as well as the layer it is fastened to, and when that layer is made of individual boards rather than plywood sheets, it deserves a closer look than usual.

This page explains how we evaluate a board subfloor, when a plywood overlay makes sense, and how that choice carries through to door casings, stair edges, adjoining floors and the estimate.

Board subfloors versus panel subfloors

Many houses have a subfloor of plywood or OSB sheets fastened to the joists. Some older construction uses solid boards instead, often six or eight inches wide and laid diagonally across the framing. Both can carry a solid hardwood floor, but boards behave like a small floor of their own: each one can cup, shrink, loosen or creak independently.

Once the old covering is off, we walk the room slowly and listen. A board that clicks or gives underfoot is screwed down to the joist before anything else happens. Wide gaps and split pieces are noted, because the nails for the new floor need solid wood to grip.

When a plywood overlay is worth adding

Flooring manufacturers and industry guidelines generally advise against running new solid boards in the same direction as the subfloor boards beneath them. If the layout you want would run parallel to them, or if the old boards are badly cupped, a layer of plywood fastened over the top gives the new floor a continuous base.

An overlay has side effects. It raises the floor, so door bottoms, the threshold at an exterior door and the joint with a kitchen or bath all need another look. On a diagonal board subfloor that is sound and flat, the new flooring can often run either way across the joists with no overlay at all.

Finding and fixing high and low areas

Board subfloors tend to show their age as humps over joists and dips between them. We check with a long straightedge and mark anything outside the flooring manufacturer’s flatness tolerance. High spots are planed or sanded down, and low spots are built up with shims or a patch product suited to a nailed floor. Skipping this step shows up later as boards that rock, joints that open over a dip or a creak in the same spot every morning.

Baseboards, casings and the top of the stairs

Baseboards usually come off so the new boards can run close to the wall while keeping the expansion space wood needs, and the trim then hides that gap. Door casings are undercut with a jamb saw so the flooring slides beneath them, which looks far neater than notching boards around the molding.

Where the floor meets a staircase, the last row has to line up with the nosing on the top step. If an overlay raises the floor, the height of that step changes slightly, which is one reason we settle the overlay question before stair parts are ordered.

Species, grade and finish for the new boards

Oak is still the most common choice for solid floors, with hickory and maple as harder alternatives. Grade describes appearance: clearer grades show fewer knots and less color variation, while character grades show more of both. If you would rather have the boards sanded and coated after they are nailed down, our floor sanding and refinishing service in Marietta covers that stage. For a room built on a concrete slab, engineered hardwood is the product designed for the job.

The order of work and the written scope

A typical sequence runs like this: protect the rooms and the path in, remove the old flooring, fasten and repair the board subfloor, add an overlay if agreed, let the wood acclimate while moisture readings are taken, snap a starting line and nail the floor, then reinstall trim, fit transitions and finish the stair edge.

The estimate should say whether an overlay is included, how much subfloor repair is assumed and how anything beyond that is priced and approved before it is done. Rooms, transitions, trim work, disposal and cleanup belong on the list too, along with what is left out.

Marietta sits in Cobb County. If tear-out turns up something structural, such as a damaged joist, or the plans grow to include plumbing or electrical changes, the City of Marietta Building Division can tell you whether that part of the job needs a permit.

Frequently asked questions about board subfloors

Can solid hardwood be nailed directly over an old board subfloor?

Often it can, provided the boards are sound, firmly fastened and reasonably flat, and the new floor runs across them rather than alongside them. Loose boards are screwed down and damaged ones replaced first. Where the old boards are cupped, widely gapped or would run the same way as the new flooring, a plywood overlay gives a more reliable base.

How much height does a plywood overlay add to the floor?

It adds the thickness of the plywood, a fraction of an inch, on top of the new flooring itself. That sounds minor, but it shows at interior doors, at the top stair step and wherever the wood meets tile or carpet. We measure those spots before recommending an overlay so door trimming and transition pieces are part of the plan from the start.

Will the old board subfloor be torn out during a Marietta installation?

Usually not. A sound board subfloor is part of the house structure, so it stays in place and is fastened, patched and flattened. Sections that are rotted, split or badly damaged are cut out and replaced with new material. If that repair goes beyond what the estimate assumed, it is described and priced for your approval before the work goes ahead.

Tell us what is under your floors

Call 404-409-4448 and describe what covers the floors in your Marietta home now and which rooms you want in solid wood. We can visit to look at the subfloor from above, and from below if there is a crawl space or unfinished basement, before preparing a written estimate.