Can engineered wood flooring be installed on vinyl flooring?I'm in the middle of home improvement project and have decided to lay some engineered wood flooring for my kitchen. The particular brand that I've bought requires glue-down installation.The problem is, there's vinyl flooring that's been laid with cutback and it's not going to come up without a significant amount of work and then re-preparation of the sub flooring. I've been to the local home improvement center several times and can't really get a straight answer as to if this is possible. I've searched the Internet and its about 50-50 yes and no. I'd really like anybody's input into my situation, as I am under a little bit of a time constraint to finish the project as this is my new house and I've got to move out of my old house in in a week.Thanks in advance to your answers!
This isn't identical to your situation, but I've put down laminate (like Prego) flooring over vinyl flooring in my kitchen and in my foyer. The laminate isn't glue down, it floats on top of a moisture barrier layer that I put down on top of the vinyl. If the engineered wood needs to go down on top of the vinyl, I would clean the vinyl real good then put the engineered wood on top of it.
Double check on the glue only part of your engineered wood floor.. I ve never heard of a glue only engineered wood floor( doesn t mean there isn t , just I ve never run across one) All the engineered floors I ve done you can do either way, glue or staple. It takes a special staple gun which you can rent and is easy to use.. They shoot a variety of staple sizes to accomodate the size recommended for you eng wood.. If you do go that way get the longest staple you can that your wood manufacturer says so that you can go all the way thru the luan (if you have that) and into the subfloor to help prevent squeaks GL
The vinyl floor is likely glued down to 1/4 inch underlayment (luan). You could pull it all up and put down new underlayment in a couple of hours. Or, if you're not worried about the height of the new floor, you could put the new underlayment on top of the vinyl floor. I've been a carpenter for 18 years and before that I laid floor for 2 years. I've never seen anyone glue any kind of floor to an old vinyl floor. I don't think it would be a good idea. If you do decide to give it a try, you may want to go over the vinyl with a disc sander to help the glue bond better.
Laying Engineered Flooring
If you are laying down Bruce or Armstrong flooring, they have instructions for laying over vinyl flooring. Basically you can't lay the flooring over more than 2 layers of vinyl. You want to make sure the flooring is stripped, not sanded, especially if there is a gloss on the floor. Don't sand if its a resilient floor, it may contain asbestos. Also they recommend specific adhesives that will bond with the floor.
