It is the first question on a lot of estimates, and it is a fair one. Tearing out an old floor is dusty, it adds a line to the quote, and if the floor underneath looks fine, covering it seems like the obvious saving. Sometimes it is. Luxury vinyl plank in particular is made to go over most existing hard floors. But sometimes leaving the old floor in place builds its problems into the new one, and a few floors should never be covered at all. Here is how to tell which you have.
The three tests
Whatever is down now becomes the base for the new floor, so it has to pass the same tests a bare subfloor does. The subfloor decides the job explains them in full.
- Flat. Dips and humps in the old floor come straight through into the new one. A floating floor bridges them, and the joints work loose.
- Sound. Nothing loose, lifting, cracked or soft. If the old floor moves, the new one moves with it.
- Dry. No old leak still sitting underneath, and nothing trapped that will smell or grow once it is sealed in.
An old floor that passes all three can often stay. One that fails any of them comes out, because covering it only hides the failure until it shows up in the new floor.
Over sheet vinyl or old vinyl tile
This is the most common case and usually the best one. A single layer of sheet vinyl or vinyl tile, glued down well and lying flat, is a good base for floating vinyl plank or laminate. It is thin, it is stable, and leaving it in place skips the slowest part of a removal, which is scraping up the old glue.
What rules it out: sheet vinyl that is cushioned, soft and springy underfoot, which lets click joints flex; seams or edges that are curling or bubbling; more than one layer already down; and any sign of water underneath, such as a dark stain or a soft spot near the tub, the toilet or the dishwasher.
Then there is the age of the floor. Sheet vinyl, vinyl tile and the adhesive under them from before the 1980s can contain asbestos. It is not a hazard while it sits intact under another floor. It becomes one when it is scraped, sanded or broken up. If an old floor might be that age, it should be tested before anyone disturbs it, and covering it where it lies is often the sensible choice. Tell us what you know about the house at the estimate and we will talk it through.
Over ceramic tile
Plank can go over tile when the tile is well bonded and flat. Tap across it: a hollow sound means tiles that have come loose, and they need fixing first. Wide or deep grout lines can show through thinner vinyl as a faint grid, so they are filled flush with a patching compound before the new floor goes down. A rigid-core plank bridges them better than a flexible one, which how to choose vinyl plank goes into.
The trade-off is height. Tile on its mortar bed is already thick, and plank on top of it raises the floor again. That matters more in some rooms than others, which is the section after next.
Over laminate, hardwood or old plank
Floating one floor over another floating floor is a bad idea. Two layers that each move on their own make a bouncy, noisy floor, and the lower one may already be the reason the room clicks. Old laminate and floating plank come out.
Nailed-down hardwood is different. It is solid and fastened, and plank can float over it if it is flat. Boards that have cupped or crowned need sanding flat or taking out first.
Never over carpet
No hard floor goes over carpet or pad. Carpet compresses unevenly under load, so plank laid over it has nothing firm to sit on and the joints fail quickly. The carpet, the pad and the tack strip all come up, and that part of a job is quick. Floor removal covers what else comes out with it.
Carpet is the forgiving floor in the other direction. New carpet can go over most sound hard floors, because the pad takes up small irregularities. The tack strip around the edges has to be fastened to whatever is underneath, which takes more work over tile than over wood.
Height is the part people forget
Every layer left in raises the finished floor, and the new height has to work everywhere the floor meets something else.
- Doors. An interior door that cleared the old floor may drag on the new one and need trimming. Exterior doors have less room to give.
- The dishwasher. Raise the kitchen floor around a built-in dishwasher and it can end up trapped under the counter, with no way to pull it out for service.
- Other rooms. Where the new floor meets a room you are not redoing, a higher floor means a thicker transition or a longer ramp. Floor transitions covers what goes in those doorways.
- Stairs. The top and bottom steps change height relative to the rest of the flight, and building codes limit how much steps are allowed to vary. Carpet or vinyl plank on the stairs covers staircases.
- Toilets and trim. A toilet flange may need an extension ring, and a low baseboard can end up looking buried once the floor comes up to meet it.
In a manufactured home, clearances are tight to begin with, and flooring for a mobile or manufactured home covers why the old floor often has to come out there.
Does leaving it in actually save money?
Sometimes. Leaving a flat, sound vinyl floor in place saves the labor of removal and the glue scraping, which is real money in a big kitchen. But if the old floor needs patching, grout filling or leveling before it can take the new one, and the doors need trimming afterwards, the saving shrinks, and a clean start on the subfloor can come out close in cost with fewer unknowns. What drives the price of a flooring job covers how removal and prep are priced.
How we decide on your floor
We look at it. At the estimate we walk the floor for soft spots and hollow tiles, look at the edges and the vent registers where the layers show, check the doors and the dishwasher, and ask what you know about the house's history. Then we tell you whether the old floor can stay, and if it is close, we price it both ways.
The estimate is free. Book one here or call 573-471-8700. We are on Virginia Street in Sikeston and cover Cape Girardeau, Dexter, Scott City and the towns between.
