Can I Install Laminate Flooring Over Vinyl in a Basement?

Installing Laminate Over Vinyl

• Before installing laminate over vinyl, you should check the levelness of the vinyl floor with a carpenter's level. If the floor has dips or slopes, don't put laminate over it without first leveling the areas. Most of the time, to fill in dips you'll need to remove the vinyl from those areas to get access to the dipping subfloor, then fill in the dipping or sloping areas with leveling compound.

Problems With Direct Installation

• The main issue with installing laminate flooring directly over vinyl on a basement floor is the moisture that a basement floor tends to hold. This moisture can cause laminate flooring to expand and contract repeatedly, possibly leading to breakage of the flooring planks. If the vinyl flooring remains securely attached to the floor, the adhesive has held up, usually indicating the floor has no immediate moisture issues.

A Better Option

• A better alternative to installing laminate flooring directly over vinyl in a basement is building a new structural floor out of wood over the original basement floor. This allows you to create distance between the original basement floor and the laminate flooring in case of moisture issues. Create this floor surface by laying 3-inch-thick boards across the floor every 12 to 16 inches, installing plywood on top, then laying laminate over the plywood.

Installing the Floor

• No matter which type of flooring the laminate flooring covers -- whether vinyl or wood -- you can install the laminate with the same general procedure. The planks are laid out in rows that connect to one other using the snap-and-lock or tongue-and-groove fixtures on the edges of the planks. Laminate floors generally don’t attach to the subfloor, though, so they require no hardware or adhesive. Instead, they just sit on the floor surface.