Jump to:
Vinyl flooring is one of the most affordable and long-lasting options. There is no other sort of flooring that can compare to its resilience to moisture as it can.
It is simple to install on your own, and you can often get a smaller room finished within a day or two of working on it.
Installing vinyl flooring on top of plywood underlayment is the typical method of installation. What are your options if you don’t want to remove the existing floor covering, even though you already have it installed?
It is possible to install vinyl flooring over other types of floor coverings such as tile.
Cover These Flooring Surfaces with Vinyl Tile.
Vinyl flooring may be installed over the following surfaces if the appropriate substrate is used:
Flooring Made of Concrete
Flooring Made of Laminate
Vinyl Flooring
Solid Hardwood Flooring
Engineered Wood Flooring
Tile Made of Ceramic or Stone
Commonly Completed Projects Involving Vinyl Reflooring
Preparation is a significant portion of the work to be done, as is the case with many other types of renovation projects. When installing flooring, it is essential to properly prepare the foundation, also known as the substrate, in order to achieve a beautiful floor that will last for a long time.
It is of much greater significance when working with thin floor coverings such as vinyl flooring.
When deciding whether or not to redo the flooring in your home, the one you have today serves as the “de facto substrate.”
Therefore, the conditions that are applicable to a conventional subfloor made of plywood are also applicable to this floor covering substrate.
Vinyl Flooring Over Wood Flooring
Vinyl flooring can be installed over engineered wood, solid hardwood, or other types of wood flooring. If the wood has a significant amount of gapping, the gaps will need to be filled up first.
In addition, solid hardwood flooring that is quite old might cup or swell with time. Due to this situation, installing directly over the wood would be challenging.
In order to install this kind of wood flooring, an intervening underlayment is required.
Vinyl Flooring Over Laminate Flooring
Vinyl flooring can sometimes be installed over laminate floors as a subfloor. Laminate flooring, much like solid wood flooring, can expand when it comes into contact with water. It is possible that it will be essential to begin the repair process by focusing on high-moisture areas such as the regions around the sink, dishwasher, and refrigerator.
Because floating laminate flooring is not fastened to the subfloor, it is simple to remove if the need arises. If your floor is floating (it is not glued down), you will generally obtain better results if you remove the laminate flooring rather than placing vinyl on top of it. This is especially true if your floor is already bonded down.
Vinyl Flooring Over Tile
If the grout lines between the ceramic or porcelain tiles are extremely narrow, vinyl flooring can be put directly on top of those floors. It is important to replace or repair any tiles that are broken or missing.
It’s possible that the vinyl flooring will develop some minor indentations due to the wide seams that separate the tiles. Instead of placing the vinyl directly on the tile, it is best to utilize an underlayment in areas where the seams in the tile floor are very large or deep.
There Are Six Considerations to Address Before Installing Vinyl Over Other Floor Coverings.
Vinyl flooring installation is simple in most situations because it can be placed or installed directly on top of an existing floor without any problems.
In most cases, the material of the lower floor covering does not have any intrinsic characteristics that prevent it from functioning as a substrate for the vinyl flooring that is located above it.
It is possible to employ that lower floor covering as long as it possesses all of the characteristics of an appropriate substrate.
Keep in mind that vinyl flooring is not only flexible but also very thin and soft. Vinyl flooring is incapable of efficiently bridging over or smoothing out substrate defects in the same manner as thicker, more rigid floor coverings are able to.
It is possible, for instance, to bridge gaps, holes, and seams in solid hardwood or engineered wood, and engineered wood may also smooth over surface embossing.
When using vinyl flooring, each one of these flaws has the potential to transmit, or telegraph, to the layer of vinyl flooring that is located above it. Even more concerning is the possibility that the vinyl flooring will eventually develop craters in areas where there are huge gaps.
Before installing vinyl flooring, it is common practice to first lay down an underlayment made of large-format boards as a substrate. Examples of suitable substrates include plywood with a thickness of 1/4 inch and dimensions of 4 feet by 8 feet, as well as MDF particle board sheets.
In addition to the subfloor, this substrate will be installed. Large-format underlayment sheets are an excellent choice for vinyl flooring since they are able to bridge over surface embossing and small holes, have few seams, and contribute some additional strength.
Strong and Dependable in All Respects
It is easier for the installer to evaluate the state of the subfloor once the floor coverings have been removed. If the old floor covering is not removed, it is impossible to determine whether or not the subfloor is fractured, has decayed, or is not in generally excellent shape in any other way.
Verify that the already installed floor covering, the subfloor, and any potential underlayment are all of a sufficient strength to support the installation of the vinyl flooring.
Flooring that Is Either Seamless or Has Closely Spaced Seams
Large-format boards offer an installation surface that contains few seams because of their size. If we take the example of a kitchen floor that is 16 feet long and 12 feet broad, for instance, we would need to utilize six underlayment boards. This would result in just a few seams.
On the other hand, a solid hardwood floor that is being utilized as a substrate might contain hundreds of seams. If the hardwood floor in question has other issues, such as large gaps between the floorboards (which are frequently the consequence of water damage), then it is not an appropriate substrate for the vinyl flooring to be installed over.
There Are No Holes or Any Other Flaws In It
Both the high places and the low regions in the substrate need to be sanded down and filled, respectively.
Even while minor flaws might not be immediately visible on the surface of the vinyl flooring, they can become visible after some time in the shape of modest craters or hills that gradually emerge on the surface.
Very Little to None of The Embossing
Surface embossing is one of the desirable aesthetic aspects that may be found in various types of tile, laminate, and vinyl.
To either assist the floor covering appear more genuine (like the material they are copying, such as wood) or just to improve their appearance, embossing creates very subtle highs and lows that provide a three-dimensional effect.
Strong embossing has the potential to telegraph its way up to the surface of the vinyl flooring over time. In most cases, this does not apply to vinyl flooring that is thicker than 6.5 millimeters; nevertheless, it might be the case for thinner boards that measure 3.5 millimeters or less.
When applied to a surface with a lower texture, thin vinyl will immediately pick up on it and transmit it to the surface.
Free of Moisture Beneath
Because there is no way for the moisture to evaporate, mold and mildew can form if moisture is allowed to become trapped between vinyl flooring and its substrate. Before installing vinyl flooring on top of freshly poured concrete flooring, the concrete needs to thoroughly cure and dry out.
Height That Is Acceptable
When laying one type of flooring on top of another type of flooring, the issue of height always arises. If the prior version was at a height that may be considered acceptable, will the new one that is higher be unacceptable?
One of the best alternatives in this regard is to use vinyl flooring as the top layer since, in comparison to other types of flooring, it adds significantly less height.
LVP comes in a variety of board widths, all of which are widely available, allowing you to get the most accurate hardwood look possible. Oak, walnut, and exotic species are just a few of the beautiful woods that may be found. Options for textured surfaces include beveled edges.
SD Wood Cabinet vinyl plank flooring in San Diego, has a wide range of colors and designs to pick from. Our collection is continually up to date and includes the most current trends.
