vinyl planks over laminate flooring

[lrbeckley]

I want to lay vinyl planking over the existing laminate flooring in my living room. The laminate flooring is in great shape and smooth, no buckles or peeling. The existing laminate floor is lower than the the tile floor it meets in the kitchen. So instead of having to take up the laminate and replace it with plywood (expensive right now) to bring it up to the level of the tile it seems like there is not a good reason not to use the existing flooring. The only con to this is in case of flooding, the laminate might buckle under the vinyl. But if the flood is bad enough the plywood under might buckle also causing everything to be replaced. But really what is the chance of flooding just on that floor and not flooding out the whole house.

 

[Incognito]

I would recommend you take up the laminate. It's the easiest floor ever made to demo. You can ramp/level the susbtrate up to the tile----usually NOT filling the entire area up to the same height but making the ramp gradual enough to be in compliance with specs/ADA/..............common sense.

A lot depends on the products, layout, lighting, furniture, usage. You rarely have to raise the entire house up to meet a higher elevation. We also use transition moldings to avoid step up/down conditions------metal/wood/vinyl

There's lots of alternatives--------all better than laying vinyl over laminate.

 

[C.J.]

Laminate floors expand and contract with the changes in the amount of moisture in the environment. If you install a layer of LVP over top of a laminate floor you are essentially putting a vapor barrier over the top of a floating floor. The laminate will absorb the moisture and expand. Since the laminate is a free floating floor it can expand any which way it wants. If it expands up and buckles then guess what, your brand new LVP will also move up and buckle with the laminate. Now you got 2 ruined floors which surely must cost more than plywood or backer board would have costed you to do the job correctly in the first place.

It’s not just floating floors that aren’t recommended to be installed over top of. Hardwood and engineered wood floors can run into the same issue so a lot of manufacturers are calling them out as unsuitable substrates to be installed over top of.

Unless you’re thinking of DIYing your own floor, no installer worth an ounce of pocket lint would install a floating floor over top of another floating floor anyway.

 

[zannej]

I'm fairly certain it would void the warranty on the vinyl plank to put it over laminate. As others have said, the laminate will expand and contract. You can buy reducer molding/trim for where the vinyl meets the tile. It's not ideal, but its cheaper than putting in plywood. If you are worried about flooding, you can put a moisture barrier under the vinyl plank.
My friend had a water leak in his bathroom and was able to just pull up the vinyl planks and sop up the water, dry off the bottoms of the planks, and put them back (because he got waterproof ones).
Putting the vinyl over laminate is just asking for trouble. The laminate is much more vulnerable to moisture than regular plywood from what I've seen.

 

[JPfloor]

I want to lay vinyl planking over the existing laminate flooring in my living room.

In case enough people haven’t already told you that’s a very bad plan. Better off just taking a bunch of money, put it in a box, and throw it in a wood chipper. At least you’ll save some time and hard work...

 

[C.J.]

In case enough people haven’t already told you that’s a very bad plan. Better off just taking a bunch of money, put it in a box, and throw it in a wood chipper. At least you’ll save some time and hard work...

Whoa, hold up! If someone is gonna just throw perfectly good money away they might as well send some of that money my way. You can sponsor me and I’ll send you pictures of all the good things your money does for me.

 

[MAjwoody]

What if a person were to fasten down the laminate in s 6" nail schedule?

 

[choiceafultz]

If you are determined to do it, I would nail or screw down the laminate. Make it so it is not a floating floor anymore. We
have done it two or three times over the years and not had any problems. But if you can, please take it up.

 

[Tile Tom]

Just don't do it. Laminate is the easiest thing to remove and dispose of.
And chances are that all your doorways are already undercut for the existing laminate so the new lvp will slide right under without any fuss.
Even with nailing or screwing the laminate I would still be sceptical. Moisture does crazy things to MDF. No sense rolling the dice for nothing in return.

 

[JPfloor]

Nailing or screwing sounds like more work than removing it. Still plenty of risk of buckling. Still gonna void the warranty. What’s the benefit?

If it’s the height you’re after just float it up where needed.

 

[zannej]

Even if you nail and screw the laminate down, you still have to contend with expansion and contraction and if any moisture or water gets under the vinyl it can cause the laminate to expand and mess with the joints of the vinyl. It would be way easier to remove the laminate and install the vinyl on the existing substrate and add a transition strip between the higher floor and lower.