Ok, before anyone has a heart attack because I want to cover the original hardwood floors with laminate, I need to give some background. Please read the back story to get to the real question, or just skip to the bottom. ( sorry in advance for such a long post)
I purchased the home with the intent of refinishing the hardwood floors that were under the existing carpet. However, when I pulled the carpet up we found two different species of hard wood split down the middle of the space and one area where linoleum was glued to the hardwood.
I was told that because of the two species of wood you can't sand and refinish becuase they will be different colors once stained.
THE REAL QUESTION:
How do I prepare the existing hardwood floor so that laminate can be installed over it?
The conditions:
-The floor doesn't seem to be level, especially between the two types of wood.
-Where the two types of wood come together, one side is higher than the other creating a lip.
-I was told that you can't put down cement base self leveling underlayment over the hard wood because of how the hardwood moves it would just break up
-where the two woods come together the wood gives quite a bit when you step on it.
Do I rip out the existing hardwood and start over from the subfloor, where I could put down self leveling if needed. Do I sand the floor to try to get it level? What about the parts that are soft when i step on that area? Will the self leveling cement really not stand up when poured over hardwood?
