Would you install luxury vinyl plank over tile and laminate?

[Bob H.]

In a two-story house I'm planning to sell, there is a variety of flooring on the first floor, installed over a concrete slab. The living room has laminate with some raised edges from water penetration. The master bedroom has different laminate with some edges that didn't lock together properly. The kitchen, master bath and laundry room have dark ceramic tile with built-in pits and fairly wide, dark grout. Finally, the half bath has sheet vinyl.

I'm considering having luxury vinyl plank installed throughout the first floor, and I think it would be a huge benefit to avoid removing all the existing flooring -- especially the tile. I would like to hear of your experience installing LVP over other flooring. I could see installing a leveling compound to fill in the grout lines in the tile if necessary. The tile and laminate seem to be very close to the same height. The sheet vinyl is thinner, of course, so I'm wondering what might be used to bring that floor up to the level of the adjacent laminate. Maybe a transition strip would make the leveling unnecessary.

Are there any important disadvantages of going over the existing flooring with a floating floor? I suppose glue-down vinyl plank would not be an option, but I'm not sold on the glue-down products anyway.

[Bob Veitch]

@Bob H. Hey there I’m a contractor up here in Pittsburgh. I deal with this all of time. I would do this.

1. Pull the laminate that is there, you will have tons of movement issues if you leave it. Lay 1/4” utility board in its place to bring up to tile level or just use transitions most lvt manufacturers make one trans that is multi level for step downs.

2. If the grout joints are 1/8” or less just go right over it. If they are larger you will need to skim with a leveler to prevent transposing.

3. Go right over the sheet may need utility board in there as well if it’s not or just use transition.

Note: Transitions come in 7 foot sections if your kitchen entry is smaller than that you could trans there and not need the utility board.

You still may need to cut jams, trim and doors. But I feel that’s easier than tearing everything out and possibly still not have enough room.

Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.