Laminate Tile

[Lewis C.]

I was wanting to put some laminate tile in my kitchen. I was told I can leave my vinyl down and lay it over it but I still needed to use a under layment. Any suggestions?

Also I wanted to put laminate wood flooring in my living room. Any suggestions?

[Bill Fry]

You can do both.Your existing vinyl is probably not glued down so pulling it up is pretty easy.You need to have a perfectly smooth service to lay the laminate down on so you probably already have that in the kitchen.If you pull carpet out in the living room you will have to get all the staples ,glue etc out before putting down the new floor.Sometimes its just easier to use luan as an underlayment to be safe.Luan is just a 1/4 inch light wood backer board available in 4 by 8 ft sheets.

[Mark Bower]

What is your reason for putting down laminate tile instead of new sheet vinyl? I have yet to see laminate tile look good 2 years later. Laminate flooring, on the other hand, is what you should use in both your living room and kitchen if you chose not to use sheet vinyl. Just my two cents.

Mark
You gotta see my repair manual!

[Mark Bower]

As I reread the question, I may take back what I just said. When you said laminate tile, I was thinking of those vinyl self-stick tiles. If that's what you mean, my answer stands. But if your thinking of actual laminate squares that interlock like the laminate flooring does, then that's OK as long as you put the approved special padding underneath it. There's a more water-resistant padding that should be used in the kitchen.

Mark

[Lewis C.]

Yes I was Talking about Locking laminate TILE. If I leave my Vinyl down and put the new flooring over it will it be water resistant enough. Is that the only reason for the sheeting your supposed to put under it?

[Mark Bower]

I would leave the vinyl down as it adds more protection to your existing subfloor. You still also need to put down an approved pad. The pad helps even out any dips and probably required for the warranty.

The pads you would use for laminate flooring in the living room look almost like carpet pads. The pads you'd use in a wet area like the kitchen look more like a rubber pad.

Mark
You gotta see my repair manual!

[Bill]

I just put laminate flooring in nearly half my house (doublewide). If your existing vinyl is clean and in decent condition (meaning no large holes) I'd simply leave it down. No need for installing subfloor. The main reason for the padding is to help deaden noise when you walk on the floor. The tile you're talking about: Is that the stuff that Lowe's carries? I put that in my foyer. Looks great, but it's not cheap.

[Lewis C.]

Yes thats the stuff its about $4.00 sq. ft. Yes thats it! They also carry a rock looking stuff that does'nt require any grout. Have you seen that stuff Bill?

[hilary]

i just put down laminate planks in my whole house. its great to keep clean but you will be surprised how much stuff you really had in your carpet.
i just wish i was able to spend the extra on the laminate tiles. and make sure you get people who know what there in for and how much work it takes it is not easy and we had 4 different crews doing this job and mohawk also came by.

[Bill]

Hey Lewis,
Sorry it took me so long to respond. Still working like mad on the house renovations, and don't get online as often as I used to. Anyway, no, I didn't see the rock looking stuff at Lowe's. No grout?? Sounds interesting! I originally bought some standard 12" sq. ceramic tiles they had on clearance, but soon found out that it really wasn't that much more costly to go with the laminate-type ceramic flooring, after adding up everything else I needed to buy in addition to the tile itself. The tile panels were easy & quick to install, but I only had to cut an opening for a heat register and nothing else.