Can you put laminate on linoleum? Is it possible to lay laminate on linoleum and is it practical? What's in the "cons".

Laying laminate on linoleum can be carried out in various cases. For example, this method is especially relevant for apartments in new buildings or other premises where roll material is used as a front cover.

If linoleum was laid in your apartment, then most likely the rough base is quite even, which makes it unnecessary to remove the existing cladding.

Advantages and disadvantages of this method

Linoleum in proper condition greatly improves the insulating qualities of the floor

Laying a laminated coating on linoleum is practically no different from traditional technology, when a laminate is laid on a prepared subfloor. In this case, the floor will act as the carrier base, on top of which the rolled material is laid.

This technology has some advantages over the classic laying option, but only if the old base is carefully prepared. The basic requirements for the quality of the base are indicated in the instructions for the laminate or on the packaging with the material.

The main advantages of laying on top of linoleum are:

• insulation - this applies to both soundproofing and heat-insulating qualities. The resulting building cake provides greater insulation than standard laminate flooring over underlayment alone;
• savings - no time and effort is required to dismantle the old coating. The presence of another technological layer under the laminate will reduce the outflow of heat from the room, which will certainly affect heating costs.

Failure to comply with technological standards and requirements for linoleum in the short term will damage the laminate. This will be seen from the cracks in the face layer and the characteristic fracture along the interlock line.

Surface preparation with linoleum

The technical condition of the old linoleum does not always reflect its appearance. Laying on linoleum can be done even on a torn and peeled off coating, after carrying out the appropriate preparatory work.

The subfloor must not be wet and contain heavily damaged areas.

Old linoleum must meet the following conditions:

• the draft floor with the laid linoleum should not have multiple damages in the form of cracks, shells, potholes;
• the maximum allowable differences in height relative to the level of the horizon should not be more than 2 mm per 2 m2;
• the working base must be dry, clean, intact, free of fungus and mold;
• the old coating must be securely fixed to the carrier base. The presence of bulges, bubbles, swellings and other delaminations is not allowed;
• linoleum must have sufficient rigidity, since soft types of roll coatings do not have good elasticity.

These are prerequisites that must. Otherwise, the laminated fabric will quickly become unusable due to an uneven base and insufficient damper of the lining layer.

Preparation before laying will include the following actions: dismantling of skirting boards, checking the level of deviations, repairing damaged areas, cleaning the surface, preparing materials and tools for work.

The level of differences can be determined using a building level 1.5-2 m long. The level should be applied to the floor surface every 2 m. It is advisable to do this both along the length and along the room.

If there are significant differences on the surface, then it is impossible to lay the laminate on linoleum in this case. It will be necessary to completely dismantle the coating, level the floor according to the minimum requirements and lay the laminate using standard technology.

By damaged coating, we mean that the linoleum has torn off areas or peeled off seams, corners or other parts. The bare floor under the torn pieces should be cleaned of dust and dirt. Next, the surface is treated with a primer for concrete and puttied according to the current floor level.

Peeled off parts should be glued using building glue or a special composition for fixing linoleum. Wavy parts or bubbles need to be cut off, cleaned under them the floor and glued into place. For fixation, the restored areas should be pressed with something heavy until the adhesive composition gains full strength.

General installation instructions

You can start laying the laminate immediately after completing the preparatory measures and purchasing the right amount of materials. Laminate should be purchased and delivered to the place of work 2-3 days before laying.

For mounting the panels, a mounting kit is used, which includes several wedges for creating a technological gap, a hemming bar and a bracket for laying panels in hard-to-reach places.

It is more convenient to take measurements using a tape measure with a stopper, a construction square and a pencil. Trimming laminate is best done with a jigsaw or wood saw with fine teeth.

When laying on top of linoleum, the use of a substrate is mandatory.

Do-it-yourself laying of laminate on linoleum is carried out in the following sequence:

At the final stage, the installation of skirting boards and other decorative finishes is carried out. To install the plinth, mark the wall and install the mounting plate along the length of one wall. Then repeat the steps for all other walls.

After mounting the bar, it is required to lay the necessary communications and set the internal corners. Finally, close the plinth with an outer decorative strip or other decorative element.

Hello. I want to get a detailed answer to the question of laying laminate on linoleum. We have an old linoleum coating on a concrete base, but because of this, the floor is cold, it is especially felt in winter. I plan to lay a cork underlay for warmth, and thicker laminated parquet on it. Is it necessary to remove the old flooring or is it still not worth touching it and mounting the laminate on top of the linoleum?

Answer

Good afternoon! According to the instructions developed more than 10 years ago by the manufacturers of laminated parquet, the installation of a "floating" adhesive-free coating is allowed on the following types of substrates:

• Cement-sand screed, anhydrite, magnesite and other types of mineral monoliths;
• concrete slab;
• Edged board flooring with humidity up to 12%;
• Prefabricated dry-type screed, made of moisture-resistant sheet materials for the floor (plywood, chipboard, OSB, GVL, DSP, LSU, etc.);

Some European manufacturers producing high-quality high-density products (at least 850 kg / m³) separately indicate that it is possible to lay laminate on linoleum, but with special reservations:

• The thickness of the finish coating should be at least 8 mm, and the cross section of the old linoleum flooring should not exceed 1-1.5 mm.
• Linoleum flooring must be dense, glued according to all the rules.
• The surface must be intact (without any damage) and absolutely even, that is, without differences in dents and other defects. Remember that according to the requirements of SP 29.13330.2011 / SNiP 2.03.13-88, the carrier layer for a laminated coating must be not only dry, strong and clean, but also as even as possible. Maximum allowable difference - up to 2 mm for every 2 linear meters

NEVER attempt to compensate for drops or voids under the flooring with an underlayment of extruded polystyrene foam, polyethylene foam, cork, or any other material. The base must be hard and rigid, and the soft layer creates a backlash, due to which the planks and interlocks are damaged.

With products of lower density produced in China, Brazil, Russia and some other countries, we recommend not to conduct such risky experiments. Laying such a laminate on old linoleum in combination with the substrate will lead to unpleasant squeaks, rapid abrasion of the surface at the joints and in places of frequent use, and damage to the locks.

If you want to get a really high-quality floor that can last 15-25 years guaranteed by the manufacturer, then it’s better not to risk it, but:

1. Completely remove the old linoleum flooring.
2. Clean the surface of adhesive or mastic residues, if necessary, carry out a partial repair of the base or form a new layer of the subfloor.

Laying technology

Regardless of the class of coating, its dimensions and other physical and technical indicators, do-it-yourself laying of laminate on linoleum is carried out in 3 stages:

Subfloor preparation

First of all, check the compliance of climatic conditions with the requirements of manufacturers:

• Base temperature: 15-27 ºС (floor heating is turned off 3-85 days before the start of work);
• Air temperature: 18-24 ºС;
• Relative air humidity: 40-70%.

The next step is to check the subfloor for evenness using a 2-meter rail or rule, as well as to eliminate all existing defects (holes, torn sections) using putties or repair quick-drying mixtures. Do not forget to clean the surface of debris, dust, degrease.

Many craftsmen additionally cover the floor with a substrate 1-2 mm thick. In fact, this is not necessary, because linoleum acts as a waterproofing and damping layer between the base and the finish.

Assembling the laminate flooring

Laying starts from the far corner along the longest wall. The first lamella is installed in such a way that there is a gap of 8-10 mm between it and the vertical enclosing structure. For this, it is better to use special spacer wedges. Produced in the selected direction sequentially from the longest of the walls.

The second and subsequent strips are applied to the narrow end of the previous one, snapped into place without shift. When the row is ready, you can move on to the next one, which already begins with trimming at least 30 cm long. The slats must be carefully attached to the elements of the first row at an angle or (if the lock allows) with a horizontal shift and fixed along the long side.

The width of the last row must be at least 5 cm. The planks should be cut if necessary, placed in the remaining gap and pulled to the rest of the web using the z-shaped mounting bracket.

Installation of decorative moldings

Spacer wedges are removed along the perimeter of the room and skirting boards are mounted using self-tapping screws or clamps. Lastly, decorative linings on pipes and thresholds are installed.

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Not so long ago, linoleum was one of the most popular flooring options. Today, he is gradually losing his position to the laminated coating, which is rather capricious in laying. The question of interest to many whether it is possible to lay a laminate on does not have a definite answer. In general, this is possible, but on condition that a number of requirements are met. Let's consider them in detail.

Features of laying laminate

The material is a kind of multilayer cake, the basis of which is a wood board. Its quality determines all the main characteristics of the coating. From below, the plate is covered with a moisture-repellent compound to prevent swelling. The top side is covered with a decorative film and laminated. This structure determines the features of mounting plates:

• Laying only on a flat surface. The maximum allowable differences are no more than 2 mm for every 200 running cm.
• The carrier base must be dry and not leak moisture in the future. If there is a threat of freezing or significant cooling of the subfloor, which can lead to condensation, additional thermal insulation is required.
• Mounting on top of the system is allowed, provided that the thermal regime is observed and the types of laminated lamellas specially designed for this are laid.

The slats can be glued and "floating" mounted. The first involves gluing the plates to the base, the second - the use of special interlocks. In some cases, to prevent moisture from entering the seams and to strengthen the structure, glue is also used when installing a floating floor.

Is it possible to put a laminate on linoleum: the pitfalls of the process

Let's make a reservation right away that linoleum is not on the list of acceptable grounds for laying laminated flooring. However, European manufacturers of high-quality material allow their products to be laid in this way, but put forward a number of requirements:

• The thickness of the lamellas cannot be less than 8 mm, more is better.
• The maximum height of the old material is 3 mm.
• The old canvas must be glued to the base with high quality. The presence of bubbles, holes and other defects is unacceptable.

It must be understood that the coating may initially be laid on an insufficiently leveled base. In this case, new material cannot be laid on it. Attempts to equalize, even the thickest, are useless. Over time, it will take, and the differences will become noticeable. In such areas, first of all, the locks of the lamellae break, creaks appear, and the joints are peeled off.

If the differences are significant, it is better not to take risks and remove the old panel. Otherwise, the new coating will lie poorly and will not last long. Care should be taken when choosing laminated material. The products of European manufacturers usually meet all the declared characteristics, while Chinese and Russian products cannot always boast of this. Particular attention should be paid to the density and thickness of the parts. They depend on strength and durability.

The whole process can be divided into three main steps. Let's consider each of them.

Preparatory work

Laying on linoleum begins with the preparation of the carrier base. The first thing to do is to check its condition. They take a two-meter ruler or rule and carefully check the base for differences. If their value is greater than the allowable one, you will have to remove the canvas and level the surface.

Sometimes the subfloor as a whole satisfies all requirements, but there are minor defects on it. They need to be removed:

• Bubbles. Glue is drawn into the syringe, the bubble is pierced and the adhesive mixture is injected under it. Gently press the material with your hand, allow the composition to dry.
• Holes. Select an element suitable for the size and quality for the patch. They put it on the damage and mark it so that the future patch goes beyond the edges of the defect. Cut out the detail. Again, they impose it on the area with a flaw, circle it and cut out the damaged cloth with a sharp knife. Lubricate the fragment with glue, put it in place and process the joints with cold welding.
• Cracks. Carefully filled with silicone-based sealant.

After all defects are removed, the base is cleaned of dirt and dust. Additionally, laying the substrate on top of the old material is not worth it. The latter will perfectly cope with the role of waterproofing and damping layer for a new finish.

Another important point. Before laying laminate on old linoleum, you need to make sure that the indoor climate meets the recommended characteristics:

• The air temperature is in the range of 18-24C, higher or lower values ​​are undesirable.
• Air humidity is about 40-70%.
• Base temperature from 15 to 27C. If the floor is heated, it must be turned off in advance, perhaps even a few days before laying.

Installation of laminate flooring

To work, you will need an electric jigsaw or a small hacksaw, with which you can saw off the parts. A wooden or rubber mallet and a tamping block to set the slats in place. For marking you will need a tape measure, pencil or marker, square. You also need to prepare wooden dies 12-15 mm wide. To put a laminate on linoleum with your own hands, you sequentially perform the following operations:

1. Installation of the first row. It is laid near the wall opposite to the entrance, in a whole strip, starting from the far corner. The plates are assembled into a strip of the desired length. To do this, click the side locks of the panels. The finished element is moved to the wall and must be wedged on three sides so that deformation gaps 15 mm wide are formed.
2. Assembly of the second and all subsequent rows. A strip is mounted, the beginning of which is the segment remaining from the previous row. This is necessary to lay the laminate "out of the way". The finished fragment is inserted into the end lock of the previous strip and gradually gently lowered onto the base.
3. Installation of the last row. If necessary, the panels are trimmed. In this case, we must not forget about the arrangement of the damper gap. The plate is turned over, applied end-to-end to the wall and the outline of the cut is outlined. A cut is performed, after which, as usual, the strip is collected and laid in place. This will be more difficult to do than for the previous rows. It is advisable to use a special lever with a hook or crowbar.

If during installation it is necessary to bypass any obstacle, trimming will be required. The easiest way to do it is if the center of the obstacle is at the junction of the panels. If it is possible to adjust the lamellas, it is better to do just that. After all the material is laid, wedges must be removed to help form a damper gap. Otherwise, the plates will be pressed and, when the microclimate changes, they will begin to deform.

Installation of skirting boards and thresholds

An obligatory element that combines coatings in two rooms. You can do without them only when a single canvas is assembled from the lamellae. This is quite difficult and labor intensive. The presence of a threshold greatly simplifies the matter. In addition, it is able to close a small difference in height if different coatings are connected. The element is placed in the gap between them:

1. For the entire length of the opening, holes for dowels are drilled every 100 mm so that a damper gap remains between the threshold and the edges of the lamellas.
2. Before installation, the parts are placed in the holes with plastic inserts.
3. Install the threshold and fix it on the screws.

So the simplest model with an open type of fastening is put. If hidden fasteners are supposed, the base part is first mounted, on which the threshold is subsequently snapped into place.

You can put different ones on the laminated coating: plastic, wood or MDF. The sequence of actions in most cases is the same. The part is fixed to the wall with self-tapping screws, after which they are closed with a lid. Cables can also be located under it, which is very convenient. Depending on the model, there are products with a double or single cable channel.

Laying skirting boards starts only from the corner and moves along the perimeter of the entire room in one direction. After all the plates are laid, they put the connecting elements, external and internal corners, plugs. The number and shape of the necessary parts are determined before the start of installation work.

The process of laying laminate flooring without a substrate is almost the same as installing with an additional layer of lining material. In the latter case, before laying the lamellas, the substrate is spread. True, the masters consider this to be superfluous in this case. In conclusion, we suggest watching a video that tells about the process of laying laminated panels.

I must say right away that it is possible to lay (lay) a laminate on linoleum. And sometimes, there is no other way out than to use this material as insulation. Some factors are pushing this decision: an uneven base, a desire to make additional sound insulation, all the more so, you don’t need to do anything for this, I apologize for the tautology.

Laying laminate on linoleum is no different from laying on any other base, but you need to know some points. In this article I will describe them in detail. And for starters, in order to try to get into the top of the search, I’ll tell you a little about styling in general.

Let's say you've made the decision that it's time to redecorate your room. And we opted for a laminate from the nearest building market. First you need to calculate the amount of material. Usually the margin is about 5%. But if the room is small, then the cost of trimming may increase as a percentage and 5% is not enough.

With standard laying of laminate, with a chaotic spread of boards, for a rectangular room area of ​​up to 15-17 m2, a supply of laminated parquet of at least 1 m2 is required. With an area of ​​\u200b\u200bmore than 17 m2, it is better to take more.

More precisely, you can calculate the required amount of material by dividing the width of the room by the width of the board (it may differ for each manufacturer and brand of laminate). It happens that when laying the last row of the coating, a gap of 30 mm remains. That is, we cut out a narrow insert. Then the consumption turns out to be large, since almost the whole board is spent on ejection. With a room length of 6 meters (about 5 panels), which is equal to 1-1.2 m2. Plus, an unforeseen marriage is possible both in the process of cutting the lamellas and during unloading.

If you're trying to install laminate for the first time, it's a good idea to stock up on an extra pack of laminate flooring.

Laying laminate on linoleum - with underlay

When laying laminate on linoleum with or without underlayment, the entire surface must be carefully inspected. Bending the edges of the linoleum, pay attention to the concrete base. In old houses, and sometimes in newly commissioned residential complexes, cement mortar flows are formed at the edges of the screed - they must be knocked down or cleaned off with a hammer and an old chisel, and then swept and vacuumed. Especially often they are located in areas of heating pipes. However, here you need to work with extreme caution.

What happens under linoleum

If the influxes are large or cannot be knocked down, it is better to cut off the edges of the linoleum in problem areas. Thus, reducing the cement tubercles to a plane with the surface of linoleum. And on top we lay the substrate.

If the laminate flooring occurs on the old Soviet linoleum on the pile, it is also necessary to bend the edges of the linoleum. There are often cement residues on the pile. They need to be removed.

Pay attention to the central parts of the room. In Soviet-built houses, the joints of the plates were smeared with mortar. Linoleum can allow this unevenness to be ignored. But for a laminate, such protrusions, sometimes reaching a height of 10-20 mm, are not permissible.

1. Take a metal rule or a laminate board, put it on the edge perpendicular to the length of the influx.
2. With a marker or felt-tip pen, outline the place where it is supposedly better to cut off the linoleum.
3. Cut linoleum with a construction knife. Thus, a plane of about 5 mm can be won at the base.
4. Spread the substrate over the linoleum.

Of course, this is not according to technology and laminate flooring is not supposed to be laid in this way, but this will allow you to get a relatively acceptable result for the short and even medium term.
It is easier to lay laminate over linoleum here.

In commissioned new buildings, cheap linoleum is most often laid on a concrete screed. Quite quickly, linoleum is deformed from the legs of sofas, cabinets. Waves appear. And the question arises - is it possible to lay (lay) a laminate on linoleum?

The question of laying a laminate on such linoleum should be approached pointwise. During operation, the linoleum coating expands from heating and waves form. At the time of laying the laminate floor, the furniture is usually removed from the rooms. And the mounted laminate with its mass in any case presses the synthetic coating against the concrete screed. Therefore, you should not be afraid of small waves.

You should pay attention to the extruded linoleum from the legs of the furniture. Pressure causes rupture and irreversible deformation. Such flaws are best cut with a construction blade.

After the procedures carried out, we sweep the linoleum base and you can spread the substrate in the usual way, grabbing it with tape to the linoleum or between them.

Laying laminate on linoleum without a substrate

Linoleum in many ways has the properties of the substrate and can replace it. I was once asked to lay laminate flooring directly on linoleum without the use of an underlay. During the consultation, I suggested laying at least a 2 mm stenophone, but people flatly refused.

The linoleum flooring was reasonably soft and free of lint or felt underneath. In terms of elasticity, it can be compared with a cork of 2 mm, but a little softer due to its greater thickness.

I don’t know if there were any problems during operation, but during the installation there were no difficulties. The only requirement for this kind of laying is a good preliminary cleaning from small stones and sand. Both from the front and from the bottom.

Some customers have a question. Is it possible to lay laminate on top of linoleum and will it drip from below?

I will answer the following: A foam backing or one made from extruded polystyrene is also airtight. However, this does not prevent its use when laying a laminate on a concrete base. Therefore, you can lay a laminate on linoleum.

Another important tip:

If, for any of the reasons listed, or your own, you decide to lay the laminate on top of the linoleum through the substrate.

I suppose you can use a coniferous substrate of any thickness, as it is solid. But in my memory, it was not possible to put it on linoleum.

Remember that only a flat base and a substrate up to 3 mm thick will prolong the operation of the laminate for the longest possible period. But laying (laying) a laminate on linoleum is still possible!