[Superwho221]

I'm wanting to find out when to replace rather than seal a particle board floor. And how good sealing a floor is against the release of gases like formaldehyde.

Some of the floor has had water damage due to a leak in the roof. It is water stained, but doesn't appear (from the top) to have expanded or become flakey.

In an ideal world I would replace all the floors to remove the old 70's particle board, cost and time is however an issue.

 

[joecaption]

Partical board is useless as a subfloor, if it was my job I'd get rid of it.

 

[Awoodfloorguy]

I agree with Joe. Get rid of the particle board. Plywood isn't that expensive.

 

[Superwho221]

Thanks for your feedback guys. It's a little more for me to replace the subfloor as I no longer live in the USA, you guys can get plywood for around USD30 a sheet, I'm paying nearly 4 times that much per sheet. Which is why I'm even bothering to consider if I can just seal the floor.