LESLIE: Liz in Delaware wants to talk about flooring. What can I help you with?
LIZ: I have a kitchen floor that has vinyl. Can I put that Pergo or something on top of it without pulling it up?
LESLIE: Well, what condition is the vinyl flooring in? Is it level? Is it straight? Is it even? Is it buckling up?
LIZ: It’s fine.
TOM: Yeah, then I think there’s no reason you can’t go right on top of that. The only area you want to be careful of, Liz, is where the – do you have a dishwasher?
LIZ: No.
TOM: OK, well then there’s no reason not to. I was going to say if you had a dishwasher you have to be careful not to block it in. I would remove the refrigerator …
LESLIE: Yeah.
TOM: … and go ahead and put the new floor right under the whole thing. When you put down the laminate there’s going to be an underlayment that goes under it; very, very thin stuff. Put the underlayment down then put the laminate on top of it. It all locks together. It doesn’t have to be glued down. You trim it out against the edges, against the baseboard moulding; perhaps put some shoe moulding or something like and you’re good to go. No reason to pull that old floor up.
LIZ: But what kind should I get? The one that glues together or the lock?
TOM: No, the lock-together. They’re pretty much all locked together today. Laminate floors, they pretty much don’t make them where they simply glue together. They were just too hard to do.
LESLIE: The only reason they would say glue them together is if you’re putting them in a below-grade situation where there tends to be a lot of moisture. Then they would recommend. But for the kitchen, no glue necessary.
LIZ: I have some, in my main entrance, those stick-on tiles.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: Right.
LIZ: How can I take them off of hardwood floors?
TOM: The hard way. You’ve got to scrape them off. You’ll need a floor scraper for that. And once it comes off the hardwood floor the hardwood floor will have to be resanded. And that’s a job best left to a professional. You’re going to want to use a big floor belt sander. They have 12-inch wide belts. Belts are available in, you know, grits as low as like 40 grit. And that can cut through the rest of the glue that’s left behind then the floor will have to be resanded with a finer grit and then refinished. But that’s the best way to handle that. It’s a lot of work but you can get it done.
Liz, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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