Pergo over kitchen linoleum where it transitions to subfloor?
Question:I am considering a laminate type of flooring and will finish my kitchen and adjoining family room and a hall. The kitchen has linoleum and the adjoining family room (they are actually one big room) has carpeting. When I pull up the carpeting there is subflooring. So, when laying the laminate between the 2 rooms there will be a slight difference in the floors because of the thickness of the linoleum. Can I ignore this difference? Should I pull up the linoleum so the floors are even? Any other ideas?
Answers:
If the floors are not perfectly even you will need a transition moulding where the two heights join. This isn't a big deal and looks fine. Pergo 4-in-1 mouldings are extremely low profile and easy to install. Now, if you are dead set against a transition strip, and can't take up the lino, there is one other option. If the difference in height is only the thickness of the linoleum with no other subfloor/luan, you can make a gradual ramp down from the lino with floor patch. Just don't make the change too sudden and you will be fine. Doubling the padding is a very bad idea and will cause you major problems.
If I were doing this in my house I would go one of two ways depending on the layout of the floor. 1) You will want to put down an underlayment/vapor barrier before the laminate anyway. On the family room side I would double layer the underlayment and that should bring you very close to level at the transition. 2) If that doesn't seem to work for some reason, my second choice would be to use a transition piece between the two rooms to accommodate the change in levels. This would be cheaper but more work and I don't think it would look as good.
I have been redoing floors in my house and I would not want to get into removing the linoleum provided it is still securely attached to the floor.
You will need to remove the linoleum to get a smooth even surface for the laminate floors. The laminate will lie better on the sub floor than the linoleum. Just use the vapor barrier that comes with the laminate. A bit of a job to remove linoleum, but there are scrapers that have a long handle that allow t
you to stand up while removing the stuff.
the easiest way to deal with the transition would be to install a saddle in the doorway opening, and it would define the rooms, too. then all that you would have to do is trim the linoleum about 1" into the doorway and let the saddle sit on that to give it a slight slope. i re tiled the kitchen in my house over underlayment so there was a bit of a difference between the kitchen and the dining room, this was the perfect solution for mine. hope it works for you too. good luck.
Check get some cement based floor levele/patch and taper off the edge. You will never notice this slight difference.
More Related Questions & Answers...