We have a three-season porch, not insulated, not over a foundation, but watertight with windows all around. It currently has linoleum (or vinyl sheet flooring, if that's what it's called today) on the floor that has been there for 20 years. May I install new linoleum over it? Or must I remove it?
If I put new over the old, I presume I would have to glue it down, true?
Thanks.
BC Floored
As long as the old linoleum is not coming up loose, and its flat, you can go right over it.
you have to get the old surface meticulously clean or any little piece of dirt will telegraph right thru the new flooring as a bump
geez your far better off to remove all the old surface and start over.....
less chance of wierd troubles
The term I like is vinyl linoleum. Real linoleum is made of linseed oil. Hence the name.
Don't you then have to make the old surface very smooth? :)
For what it's worth, I put bought vinyl linoleum for my NY apartment and they were going to deliver and install it the next day. Took out everything including the sink but there was one 6 square inch hole in the current real (smooth, not embossed) linoleum floor. No time to go shopping and the only thing I had was spackle.
I put down spackle and it worked fine for 9 years until I left. I don't know how long after that. No shadow of the hole showed through. Even though I walked over this spot to get to my bedroom.
If the old stuff is solid and tight to the floor, yes, you can glue new vinyl over it. I would suggest the type where the entire floor is glued. However, if you waxed that old stuff, you MUST remove the wax first. Flooring stores sell a wax remover. I worked in floor covering for years.
If the old stuff is loose or flaking, remove it or cover it with underlayment (1/4" plywood, luan, or masonite..... or whatever they use today, since it's been 15 years since I did that work). on the other hand, DO NOT use that peel and stick tile on it. That stuff is crap to begin, and you wont have the best adhesion if any traces of wax are left. Back when we did floors, we even used a sander to roughen the surface of the old linoleum, but with the asbestos in some of the old stuff, they say to not sand it now. Maybe there is another product to remove the gloss, ask a flooring company. Companies like Armstrong make specific adhesives and preparation chemicals to match their product. If you dont use their stuff, you have no warranty. DO NOT ask the droids at Home Depot, or Lowes. They dont know anything. Go to a REAL floor covering store, even if you buy the sheet goods at one of the box stores.
About a year ago, I had new sheet vinyl flooring installed in the kitchen of a home that I own that was being redone as was going to be rented out. The new vinyl went over an old linoleum floor that was in excellent condition. I used a local flooring company that I had used a number of times in the past and they did the installation. They used a relatively new type of adhesive (according to them) to do the glue-down. The adhesive is designed to allow the new floor to be just peeled up in the future if needed. I don't remember what the special type of adhesive was called, but they did say that say that it is rather expensive. Maybe someone here will know what the adhesive is, or maybe you can check with a local flooring company near you.
I am not sure if the fact that your porch is not insulated will make any difference in terms of expansion/contraction etc. with vinyl sheet flooring, but maybe you could ask a flooring company that one too.
I'd be curious to know what was used for the adhesive. Sounds like something new.
Sheet good have worked just fine for me in unheated porches. Just dont install it in freezing weather or the adhesive will freeze before it drys.
I did some searching and I think it is called "pressure sensitive adhesive". I couldn't find the exact brand that the installers used in my case.
Here are a few links with more information:
And, here is a link to an installation video for Flexitec flooring:
The first 13-minute installation video shows how it is installed. Toward the end of the video, they talk about using the full-floor adhesive method which is what I had done and which is recommended in larger areas and areas where appliances may be moved on top of the vinyl (such as my kitchen). In fact, the adhesive can be applied with a paint roller (recommended, and is what they did in my case).
In the video, the first Flexitec floor pattern that you see (it looks like irregularly shaped slate stone) is the pattern that I had installed. It looks great.
One of the reasons why the flooring company that I used suggested Flexitec is that my kitchen is slightly bigger than 12 feet in one direction (about
12 feet 4 inches, I think) and 15 feet in the other direction. Flexitec comes in rolls that are something like 4 meters wide -- which is like 13 feet 2 inch wide rolls. So, they didn't have to do any seams since 16 feet of one 4-meter wide roll would cover the whole floor in one piece. All of the other manufacturers that I could find only sold their products in 12 foot wide rolls. I think Flexitec is manufactured in Europe where they use the metric system for flooring.HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.