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I'm hoping I have hardwood floors in my kitchen. I have oak wood floors throughout the house except the basement and maybe the kitchen. right now i have peel n stick tiles in the kitchen. i took that up and there is a hard cardboard like flooring and underneath tht is a something that looks like particle board, maybe it is i dont know. how do i tell?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: salgoods,

pick a inconspicious spot like a pantry or behind something. and peel it up.tear it out whatever it takes to get to the bottom.
partical wood is wood chips and glue
it looks nothing like a hardwwd floor
clean it up and look

Hi salgoods,

If you have heat registers in the floor, lift out the register and examine the edge of the floor. You may need to loosen up the metal duct by pulling a couple of nails to see enough of the ends of the wood on the floor but should see hardwood end grain if its there. Once you know you can then push the metal duct back in place and replace the nails to hold it properly. All layers of wood on the floor should be visible once the metal boot is dropped a bit.

And if it is partical board then do yourself a favor and rip it all out. It does not hold hardwood flooring nails or staples, if it gets wet one time it turns to oat meal.

it is particle board! its particle board, then like a card board, then peel n stick tiles. problem is if i take up the peel and stick tiles and the hard card board and the particle board, then the floor will not be even with the rest of my flooring such as the dining room. what can i do? can i just take up the peel n stick tiles and put tile over that hard card board? or should i dig down deeper and see what is under the particle board?

We here all know you will not want to here this but all of it's got to go if your going with tile or real hard wood. all the way down to the floor joist. Once it's out and replaced with the propper sub floor there may be little different between floor level.
What you have now is never going to be able to hold a nail or staple.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: joecaption,