How to cover ugly hardwood floors cheaply
Covering damaged or worn hardwood floors with cheap materials often requires heavy-handed solutions like self-leveler and laminate that destroy the original wood underneath. This forces people into a moral and practical dilemma between doing a quick budget fix and preserving the historical or underlying structure for the future.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1putting a vinyl vapor barrier down before pouring self-leveler
- 2leaving a written note for the next owner explaining what was done
- 3refusing the job and walking away
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Lord you commanded Man to provide for his family so please don’t send me to hell after I pour self leveler over these hardwood floors to install cheap laminate for a customer.”source ↗
“I’m going to attempt to put a vinyl vapor barrier over before I pour, hopefully that way the next owners will be able to remove the leveler and redo the floors if they want”source ↗
“So I rented an industrial wherehouse and we are turning it slowly into a parkour and acrobatics gym. But the floor in the reception is awful, full of painted spots and well old. Is there a cheap solution to make it look new or that I cover it or even a paint I could use?”source ↗
“It's absolutely been a trip making a gym but sometimes just feels that I'm in so much over my head.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 5How to know if old hardwood floors can actually be refinished
- 2How much should I charge for a small hardwood floor repair?
- 3Should I glue down engineered herringbone flooring or float it?
- 2Can you put heated floors under luxury vinyl tile?
- 3How to protect old wooden floors without ruining them
- 11Do epoxy floors off-gas chemicals and yellow over time?