Laminate flooring question

Discussion in 'Contractors and Services' started by Julianna, Dec 16, 2019.

  1. Julianna

    Julianna Member

    Hello,
    We have tile floors throughout our Sun City home. I am noticing that many are using laminate wood flooring when they remodel.Do you have to rip up the tile or is there a way to put the flooring over the tile. I can’t imagine that the new flooring would lay nice over the tile but I also can’t imagine ripping up the existing tile. Just curious how folks are handling this.
    Thank you.
     
  2. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    Flooring is always a tough one J. We've run the gamut over the years since we first bought. Straight up, laminate was never one of our choices. Had it back in Minnesota when it first came out and hated it. We always had large dogs and the clicking drove us nuts. We loved the tile in our first house in Sun City, and the mix with carpet in the living room and bedrooms was okay. Until we pulled up the carpet and saw the layers of dirt and dust we were breathing. We replaced the carpet with Bamboo flooring, and 5 years later regretted it. It wasn't cheap and it didn't wear well at all. We replaced the small 9 inch tiles with the larger ones and the folks that did it told us we needed to pull the old ones out. Jack hammered it out, messy, but the right way to go. Unfortunately the first house as large as it was had some 6 different flooring in it between the inside and outside living areas.

    The next house we decided to do it right. One consistent floor throughout the house. We used the tile wood plank look and absolutely love it. We have a friend who buys and flips homes and has paid as little as 99 cents a square and laid it herself. On the other hand, we had our contractor find us the look we wanted, did all the tear out and install and came in around $7.00 a square. Again, not cheap, but between the maintenance, performance and stunning look, made it well worth the investment. Tough choices, but be careful. You can always find someone to do it on the cheap (lord knows we did that too many times) and ended up living to regret it.

    I suspect most flooring professionals will tell you to take up the old, before you put down the new. The obvious without doing that is the look with the baseboards, to say nothing about leveling the floor to eliminate the squeaking with some laminate products.
     

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