Hello! I live in an old house. We are covering the entire house with click vinyl plank flooring. The entire house currently has old hardwood floor except for the kitchen. The kitchen has hardwood floor, but is covered by some sort of hard, gray surface (moisture barrier?) that appears to be glued on, plywood, and two layers of vinyl flooring. This creates about a 1/2 inch difference from the rest of the house. Should I attempt to rip everything out to make it even? What is your recommendation?
Uneven floors for Click Vinyl Flooring
Help Support Flooring Forum:
If you want one consistent level of flooring then you have two choices. You either rip out the vinyl and plywood in the kitchen or you install plywood in the rest of the house to match the height of what’s currently installed in the kitchen. Installing plywood in the rest of the house is likely gonna cost significantly more than ripping out the kitchen so for that reason many people will not go that route although it is probably the better of the two options.
Let’s dig into the differences between the two choices you have. If you demo the kitchen you’re likely looking at dealing with asbestos. I’d bet the gray layer is the original linoleum that was capped with plywood and subsequently had two layers of vinyl installed on top of it. Is that lino hot? You won’t know unless you have it tested. I guess now that I think of it you could remove the plywood and two layers of vinyl but leave the layer of lino the float the height difference between the limo and hardwood. It happens all the time and is prolly what most people would do because it’s the cheapest option there is.
The other option is that you install plywood in the rest of the house to flush out with the kitchen. @Dan prolly has the latest knowledge on this but the spec has been changing as to whether hardwood floors are an acceptable substrate to install LVP over. The LVP acts as an impermeable layer that traps moisture in the hardwood and can cause it to buckle. Does this mean plywood over the top of said hardwoods? Or do you have to rip em all out and go back with a fresh layer of plywood? Usually nobody likes either of those choices. I’m just throwin some info out there for you to make your own decisions.
Im sure others will chime in with other options but this is a starting point of things for you to ponder.
Pics help. What specific product are you considering installing. The more details we have the better we can taylor some advice for you.
Let’s dig into the differences between the two choices you have. If you demo the kitchen you’re likely looking at dealing with asbestos. I’d bet the gray layer is the original linoleum that was capped with plywood and subsequently had two layers of vinyl installed on top of it. Is that lino hot? You won’t know unless you have it tested. I guess now that I think of it you could remove the plywood and two layers of vinyl but leave the layer of lino the float the height difference between the limo and hardwood. It happens all the time and is prolly what most people would do because it’s the cheapest option there is.
The other option is that you install plywood in the rest of the house to flush out with the kitchen. @Dan prolly has the latest knowledge on this but the spec has been changing as to whether hardwood floors are an acceptable substrate to install LVP over. The LVP acts as an impermeable layer that traps moisture in the hardwood and can cause it to buckle. Does this mean plywood over the top of said hardwoods? Or do you have to rip em all out and go back with a fresh layer of plywood? Usually nobody likes either of those choices. I’m just throwin some info out there for you to make your own decisions.
Im sure others will chime in with other options but this is a starting point of things for you to ponder.
Pics help. What specific product are you considering installing. The more details we have the better we can taylor some advice for you.
