Installing Laminate Flooring Over Carpet

 

PAT: Well, I have a sunroom with indoor/outdoor carpeting and I’d like to put a laminate flooring over it without pulling up the carpet, because it’s been glued down.

 

TOM: (overlapping voices) OK.

 

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Mm-hmm.

 

PAT: Is that possible?

 

TOM: Yeah. I don’t see why you couldn’t. You’re going to find that the floor is that much higher, that much thicker. So as long as it doesn’t cause any problem with door jambs and that sort of thing, I don’t see why you couldn’t go on top of that. You know, if you got that old carpet up and could just get enough of the glue up so that it’s relatively –

 

LESLIE: Like the big chunks of it.

 

TOM: – yeah, so it’s relatively flat – I’d prefer that you do it that way but if push comes to shove, you can definitely just go right on top of it.

 

LESLIE: Mm-hmm, especially with the laminate flooring, Pat. There are several different types of underlayments; it’s generally like a foam sheeting that you put down and then the laminate goes over it. So if you can get up the big chunks of carpet or big pieces of glue where you might end up with a severe bump, the foam underlayment will really even everything out and then the laminate floats over it. You’d be better off to get it up but if you can’t, no worries.

 

PAT: Well, is there an easy way to get it up if it’s been glued down?

 

TOM: Well, you want to grab a corner of it and start pulling it up.

 

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) And tug. (Leslie and Pat chuckle)

 

TOM: And then you’re going to use a big scraper and basically scrape over every inch of that floor and scrape up some of the glue. You know, it’s a tough job; it’s laborious but it’s not impossible. And I’d much rather see you put the laminate floor down on top of the subfloor than on top of the carpet.

 

PAT: Okie-doke. Well, thank you so much.

 

TOM: Well, you’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.