LESLIE: Linda, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
LINDA: We had a new kitchen floor installed about a week-and-a-half ago. It was a middle-of-the-road-grade sheet vinyl. And a couple of hours after the installers left, we were moving stuff back in. And we moved the refrigerator and it gouged it a couple of times. And the flooring has a 15-year warranty, so they said they would, you know, honor that and replace it or patch it or whatever. But then two days after that, my eight-month-old puppy got a hold of the seam and ripped it in several places and also took a couple of chunks out of the middle of the floor.
TOM: Oh, boy.
LINDA: So, I called the gal – the rep – back and she suggested going with an LVT click-it tile – luxury vinyl tile.
TOM: OK.
LINDA: And I was just wondering what you guys thought as – if that would be a viable option, mainly because of the dog. I mean I just don’t know.
And another thing is she was saying that they would probably install it right over the floor that they just put down, so that would mean we have the subfloor, my old floor, the new floor and then this tile on top of it.
LESLIE: It’s a floor sandwich.
LINDA: Yeah.
TOM: First of all, whether or not you can put it on top of old layers of floor is really a manufacturer specification. It’s not unusual.
For example, when you put down laminate floor, that always sits on top of whatever is underneath it, because it kind of floats. So it might be that it’s perfectly fine.
LINDA: Right.
TOM: Luxury vinyl tile is more durable than sheet vinyl. Sheet vinyl tends to be really soft, so I’m not at all surprised that it got torn up just by moving the refrigerator back and forth. You would think that if you’re in the flooring-design business, that that would be sort of a standard. Like if your kitchen floor can’t handle a refrigerator being rolled back and forth, you probably shouldn’t be in the business.
LINDA: Right.
TOM: But unfortunately, a lot of those sheet products are very, very soft and can easily tear. It’s a darn good thing that you got your claim in, though, before the dog ripped the rest of it up. Because otherwise, they may not have had any interest in helping you.
But I do think a tile is going to be a pretty durable option. I wouldn’t be too concerned about putting it on top of the old floor as long as it’s permitted by the manufacturer’s installation instructions, which you certainly should ask to – for a copy of so that you can review.
LINDA: OK. Alright. Well, thanks very much. I appreciate it.
TOM: Alright, Linda. I hope you love that dog. It’s costing you a lot of money.
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