One of the most common questions at an estimate is whether the new floor can just go on top of the old one. It is a fair question. Leaving the old floor in place saves the labor and disposal of taking it out, and it saves a day or two of noise and dust.
Sometimes it is exactly the right call. Sometimes it buries a problem that comes back through the new floor within a year. Here is how to tell which you have.
The rule underneath every answer
A new floor is only as flat, solid and dry as whatever it sits on. If the old floor is sound, flat, firmly attached and one layer thick, it can often serve as the base for the new one. If it is loose, cracked, soft, uneven or wet, it has to come out, because none of that gets better under a new floor.
The other half of the rule is the manufacturer's instructions. Every product lists which existing floors it may be installed over, and installing outside that list can void the material warranty. Reading a flooring warranty covers what else can.
Old floor by old floor
Carpet: always comes out
Nothing goes over carpet. The carpet, the pad and the tack strip around the edge all come up, and so do the staples. A hard floor laid over carpet would flex at every joint, and carpet over carpet is not an installation anyone should offer.
Sheet vinyl and vinyl tile: often can stay
A single layer of sheet vinyl or vinyl tile that is fully glued down, flat and in good shape is often an acceptable base for a floating vinyl plank or laminate floor. It is also a common place to be glad you are not removing it, for the reason in the asbestos section below.
What rules it out:
- More than one layer, or a cushioned vinyl that gives underfoot. Many manufacturers do not allow either.
- Lifting edges, bubbles or loose seams. Loose areas have to be cut out or the whole layer removed.
- What is under it. Old vinyl is often glued to a thin particleboard underlayment, and particleboard that has ever been wet swells and crumbles. If the floor near the dishwasher, the toilet or the back door is soft, that underlayment comes out, and the vinyl with it.
For glue-down vinyl plank, the texture of the old vinyl usually has to be filled with a skim coat first, or the pattern can show through the new floor.
Ceramic and porcelain tile: sometimes
A tile floor that is firmly bonded, flat and free of cracked or hollow-sounding tiles can take a floating vinyl plank or laminate floor. Wide or deep grout lines get filled so they do not show through, and any tile that is loose gets dealt with first. A cracked tile is often a sign of movement underneath, and the new floor will not stop that movement.
Glue-down plank over tile needs a full skim coat first. A new tile floor over an old one is possible in some cases, but the extra height and weight add up, and taking the old tile out is usually the better job.
Solid hardwood: usually yes, if it is sound
A nailed-down hardwood floor that is flat and not cupped or soft can usually take a floating floor on top, typically running across the old boards. Before covering it, though, ask whether it could be refinished instead. Old oak under a worn finish can sometimes come back beautifully for less than a new floor. We do not refinish hardwood ourselves, so if that is the better answer we will say so rather than sell you a floor you do not need.
Laminate or any floating floor: always comes out
A floating floor moves. Putting another floor on top of one stacks two moving layers and an extra underlayment, and no manufacturer we know of allows it. It comes up, which is quick, and the subfloor gets checked while it is open.
The height problem
Every layer you keep adds to the height of the floor, and height decides more than people expect.
- The dishwasher. A new floor run under the counter can trap the dishwasher in its opening, so it cannot be pulled out for service without pulling the floor. We plan for it before anything is laid.
- Doors may need trimming to clear the new floor.
- Transitions to the next room's floor get steeper. A height change in a doorway is a trip hazard, and it matters even more in a house planned for aging in place.
- The top step of the stairs has to meet the new floor height, and the stair nosings have to match it.
- Appliances, toe kicks and baseboards all sit relative to the floor. What happens to your baseboards covers the trim side.
What covering a floor cannot fix
Leaving the old floor down means leaving the subfloor closed up. With the floor up, a squeak is fixed by screwing the subfloor down to the joists, a soft panel is cut out and replaced, and a low spot is filled. With the old floor left in place, none of that happens, and the new floor inherits all of it.
That is why we look closely at the floor before recommending either way, and sometimes test it. What we find under your old floor goes into the five things we check.
Older floors and asbestos
Some sheet vinyl, vinyl tile and the black adhesive used under older tile, from before about 1980, can contain asbestos. It is a hazard only when it is disturbed: scraped, sanded, broken or ground into dust.
That is one of the real arguments for covering a sound older resilient floor rather than removing it. If an older floor has to come out, it should be tested first, and if asbestos is present the removal is handled by the proper route, not improvised. Do not scrape or sand an old vinyl floor yourself to find out what is under it. Our floor removal service explains how we handle it.
What it costs either way
Covering a floor saves removal labor and disposal, but it is not free. The old floor may need patching, filling or a skim coat, and on some jobs that preparation costs nearly what removal would have. When removal is the right call, our quotes include taking the old floor out and hauling it away, so the number you sign covers it. What flooring costs in Oregon covers the rest of the quote.
The short version
- Carpet, laminate and any floating floor: come out.
- One layer of well-bonded sheet vinyl or vinyl tile, flat and on a sound base: can often stay under a floating floor.
- Sound, flat, well-bonded tile: can often stay under a floating floor, with the grout lines filled.
- Sound hardwood: can usually stay, or may be worth refinishing instead.
- Anything soft, loose, cracked, wet or out of flat: comes out, and the subfloor gets fixed.
Let us look at it
Norman's has been taking up, and leaving down, old floors around Newberg and Portland's Westside since 1978. At a free in-home estimate we look at what you have, check how it is fastened and how flat it is, and tell you plainly whether it can stay. Every install carries a ten year labor warranty, plus the manufacturer's warranty on your materials.
Visit the showroom at 900 Industrial Parkway, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, call (503) 538-8242, or book a free estimate online.
Related services: floor removal and demolition, luxury vinyl plank flooring, laminate and tile.
