Laying vinyl over laminate?

zax47

I have laminate flooring in my kitchen, utility and downstairs cloakroom (toilet&sink) and I hate it. It's suffered a bit over the last 15 years since it was fitted (not by me!) and looks a bit shabby now, discoloured along some joints, but not "blown" (from water/spills and a leaky radiator valve!) It runs right through and is actually under the toilet bowl. We've just done a re-furb of the kitchen decor and the floor is really letting it down now.

Ideally I want to replace it with some vinyl or something else more liquid/spill/kitchen friendly. Can I leave the laminate in situ and have the vinyl or whatever laid on top? It would be a real pain to have to rip all the laminate up, as it goes about 1" under the kitchen cabinets with integral kick boards, under all the skirtings and, as I said, under the toilet bowl and boxing-in in the cloaks. If it came up then I'd only have to board out to the same thickness, seems wasted effort if the laminate is otherwise a sound substrate. (and it does seem to be, to me, it's flat and solid)

What do you think, dear MSEers? Is it doable? Have you done something similar?

cyclonebri1

I've carpeted on top of laminate and I know professional carpet fitters are happy to do this, it's only the same as over boards, but I think that unless the top surface of the laminate isn't grooved at the joints, and most if not all are, then you would have to overboard with tightly butted hardboard.

It might seem logical then to remove the laminate, but then it may be necessary to overboard the existing floor anyway so..............

Impossible to say further without knowing the type and quality of the flooring and original floor.

I'd leave it down and board over then the vinyl, at least then it adds some more rigidity and/or rigidity, depending on floor type and threshold levels.;);)

zax47

Joints are all flush, good & tight, no buckling or gaps or grooves. It's flooring chipboard 8' x 4' sheets (not floorboards) underneath with a thin intermediate membrane immediately under the laminate. It's all very solid.

cyclonebri1

Given that I can't see any real reason not to go direct on top, I was kind of suspecting the type of laminate that tries to mimic laid planks, being older stuff that doesn't seem to be the case.;)

PollyOnAMission

I would watch out for damp/"sweating" between the two layers if you do this. The previous owners of my house had laid sheet vinyl in the kitchen. After a couple of years we noticed a bad smell and some dark spots appearing on the floor. We pulled up the vinyl to find it had gone completely moudly and was really damp; they had laid it directly on top of vinyl floor tiles.

It may well be different when laying onto laminate but it's something to maybe be aware of!

Franceca43

If you want to avoid damp you should try to buy Tagema9000, in my old house i had this problem every year, when i moved to UK friend told me about and i tried. I haven't found any sign of damp .... yet, we'll see in 3-5 months (i have device since may)

cyclonebri1

Sweating or damp will only occur where there is an underlying issue.

It's pretty much the same for what ever floor is laid.

But reading the post again, if the laminate has been down that time, sweating/condensation should not be an issue ;)

zax47

Well I've had a fitters opinion and he's happy that the laminate provides a sound enough base. Vinyl goes down Friday!

doelani

zax47 wrote: »

Well I've had a fitters opinion and he's happy that the laminate provides a sound enough base. Vinyl goes down Friday!

We had vinyl fitted over laminate 1 months ago in living room ans hall, best thing we eve did :j

minniemaus1970

we done it in our en suite, only thing we had to do is fill a couple of cracks with a 2 part resin and sand it smooth ( better finish, no lumps n bumps), looks really nice

broonbear

as long as it's dry underneath the laminate you'll be ok and get the fitters to silicone seal the vinyl so no water can work its way under the vinyl