If the current floor is fixed to the subfloor and is in good condition, you may be able to lay a new floor above the top. However, if there are broken or worn parts of the current floor, or if the subfloor itself needs some work, you'll have to remove whatever's there and start from the bottom. Carole Cross from Roomvo, RFMS and QFloors Floor Focus magazine provides market research, strategic analysis and trendy coverage of the flooring industry to help retailers, designers, architects, contractors, building owners, suppliers and other industry professionals achieve greater success. If you are going to paste the new floor over the existing floor, the old floor must be clean of all contaminants and adhesion breakers.
So let's ask and answer a few questions about installing new floors over existing old floors. A simple solution is to put talcum powder between the joints of the floor material to prevent it from creaking. It is believed that it is faster and cheaper to keep the old floor in place and install it on top. If the old floor was vinyl tile and asbestos with trimmed adhesive, you've just gotten into a quagmire.
Since all floating floors use some type of hitch system and all move to a certain extent, there is always the possibility of creaking or creaking. It's also possible that you have a fridge that no longer slides under that cabinet, a stove that you can no longer place flush with the counter, or a dishwasher that is stuck in place (if you need to replace it in the future, you'll have to break the new floor to do so). Don't think that floating a floor on top of an old floor in this situation will be better, since it probably won't be. The biggest difference is the amount of traffic the floor will be exposed to and whether installing one floor over another makes sense in relation to the risks it may entail. Not only do we have to remove all the floor, but we also have to reduce asbestos and then install a complete moisture mitigation system.
What it has done is to place a moisture vapor retarder, or even a barrier, on an existing floor that was intact despite the moisture that was under and inside the slab. An example is an old vinyl tile floor; it may or may not contain asbestos, it may appear to have more layers of paint than two layers of paint and research may indicate that it has been lying for decades without any problem on the old substrate. Covering the old floor with anything, whether it's a membrane of some kind or a new floor, is a bet at best. Once the ground is covered, the dynamics change and instead of moisture vapor being expelled, it is trapped. A year later, the new pavement reacts by loosening, rising or developing some other distortion that compromises its adhesion. So when considering whether or not to lay new flooring over old, there are several factors to consider.
The condition of both floors must be taken into account as well as any potential risks associated with installing one over another. It's important to remember that if asbestos is present in your current flooring or if there are any other contaminants present, they must be removed before any new installation can take place.
