Sub floor in kitchen

[Lorne]

I'm planning for laminate in the kitchen. There is currently tile over a sub-floor. My plan was to remove the subfloor and put the laminate directly on the original subfloor, consistent with the dining room and living room that butt against the kitchen.

I knew from the previous owners that the tile was laid 8 years after the house was built. I was hoping that this meant the subfloor was laid after the cabinets were in. No dice. After removing a few tiles it's apparent the subfloor goes right under the cabinets. I'm guessing the subfloor held the original lino (the upstairs bathrooms also have subfloors) and the lino was simply pulled up and replaced with tile.

Q1 So what's the best way to remove the subfloor? I anticipate having to use a chisel to hack away and score the edge of the subfloor nearest the cabinet, then pry it up. Note - the subfloor does not appear to be glued down - there's way too much give underneath when I pry the outer edges (the edges not under the cabinets) - seems to be stapled with big honking chunks of metal.

Q2 There is about a 4' x 4' section of this tile at the back door that I'd like to retain. Is that wise? I will have pulled up the subfloor all around it - does that introduce instability that will leave the tiles subject to shifting?

Thanks.

[Trader]

You may want to use a tile cutting blade on score sections of the floor and then use a pry bar to pull up those sections. Score the area where you want to keep the tiles and they should be fine. Why not use real wood instead of laminate. Laminate looks fake and can chip. I personally would put in tile or wood. But to each his own.

[B]

You have to take up the subfloor to get the kitchen to be level with the DR and LR, but don't want to move the cabinets? I would take out large sections by setting a circular saw to 1/2 inch depth, or whatever, and use a small and precision tool like a Dremel to cut next to the cabinets. It will be hellacious. -B

[Lorne]

"Trader" wrote in news:LJyjd.41266$ [e-mail]:

Thanks for the suggestion.

The answer now is "because every other room in the entire house has laminate". However, two months ago the answer is more related to the durability of the product. We had oak hardwood in the last house and although it looked fabulous it took a hell of a beating with 3 kids and 2 dogs. The laminate wears better and is quite frankly the optimal tradeoff at this point in our life.

Thanks again.

[Lorne]

"B" wrote in news:87Ajd.25454$ [e-mail]:

Hellacious. Well, that establishes without confusion how my weekend will go. Thanks for the suggestion I was planning to take a saw to the biggest sections I could get at. I can envision scraping away at the parts near the cabinet for some time...

Lorne