installing hardwood flooring
 

one of the flooring guys who came to quote mentioned that he wants to install the new laminate flooring (darker color) over the existing laminate (weird brown/oak color). He does not want to remove the existing as it's "good and level". He says all I need is a new underlay (cheap is ok) and flooring.

The existing laminate looks to be about 8mm and the one i want is 12mm. That's 20mm above ground. Some areas like bathroom entry way are all tile...

Questions:

1- is it normal to install new laminate over existing laminate?
2- what about the transition from living room to tile? I'll be going from 20mm to presumably 3-4mm tile? that's a 16mm (1/2 inch) difference... will I need to put a "watch your step" sign in my living room ..lol
3- Whats the average to install 700sqft of laminate without removing existing flooring
4- whats the average to remove existing and install?

TIA

Give Jordan's Flooring a call.
You need more estimates and from more professional installers.

I've seen it done before at some peoples houses, even thought the proper transition pieces are put in, it always looks so odd to me having such a height difference in flooring levels. Anytime i DIY this type of thing i've always ripped the old out.

The person quoting you will rip out the old if you ask them (for a price of course) but they make more money/time spent on the job if they just come in and throw down new floor as is and walk away.

Sounds ghetto as fuck.

What are you going to do if you ever want to re-tile the kitchen/bathrooms, put tile on tile, so they match up?

What's he going to do about the baseboards? Remove them and reinstall 15mm higher?

Just demo the old stuff and have more even transitions. For a few hundred more in demo and disposal, the end result will be way better.

Is this a house or condo? Wood or concrete subfloor?

I'm getting new baseboards so the old ones are being removed...
He didn't even quote me on quote me on removing old :\ ...
concrete subfloor in a condo.

If y'all got any installers, post here or PM me. Clearly I can't go with this guys quote ...

Any chance the existing floor is glued down? I recently demo'd a glued down, engineered hardwood floor, where the rubber underlay was also glued to the concrete subfloor. It was a massive pita. The subfloor had to be scraped down as well. Took 3+ days to have it ready for install. This is the only reason i can think of, where going over existing might remotely be considered. Having said that, if it were my place, I'd still demo it, 100% first

If your floor is going to be another 12mm higher, just make sure things like doors, closet doors are able to open and close.

Ghetto for sure. How much is he quoting you for labour and flooring?

I think cheapest laminate is about $2-3 per sq. Labour is whatever he wants to charge.

Are you doing random or H style? The latter takes much longer.

How do I find out if it's glued down or not?

and if I demo it, can't I just use the new underlay as an evening layer? why do i have to mess around with scraping/sanding concrete

What is random or "H" Style? :\

Wood Floor Layout - Floor Rugs & Mats

Irregular is easiest. If you ask the installer to have some sort of pattern it will waste a lot of materials and a PITA.

Underlay is a foam blanket. It won't fix leveling.

You should really check with strata before starting your flooring project. They may have specific requirements (i.e underlay ratings)

the underlay i plan to use meets strata regulations.

Trimming doors, recutting door jambs, adjusting/trimming closet doors, etc. More trouble than it's worth.

haha leaving the current stuff in place, what a joke

remove it and install the new

1.) Usually people replace the old laminate however I don't see why not..
2.) If you want to make it perfect I would recommend hiring professional staff to properly apply more concrete if needed to level the flooring evenly.
3.) Depends on materials you want to use
4.) ^

If the existing stuff is level then I'd imagine the concrete underneath is gonna be level or pretty close. If you're replacing the baseboards maybe take one off and try to remove the last row of flooring to see how it's connected, it's coming out anyways so no worries about damaging it.

#1) No. It might be okay, but definitely not the norm. (Plus all laminates are "floating" floor. You might feel more "softness" or "bounciness" if you put 1 floating floor on top of another. Difference could be minimal, but you never know. (Plus, all your baseboard and trimming will look shorter, your door's bottom might need to be trimmed down to fit, and if you have sliding door the extra floor height might make the door not fit back on)

#2) Your tile height is definitely more than 4mm. With the base and cement, tile height are typically 10-20mm. Easy way is just look at your current tile height and compare it with the existing laminate flooring you have. Say the tile is completely even with the laminate right now, and you are putting a new 12mm laminate + 2mm underpad on top, the new floor will be 14mm higher than your tile. If your tile is actually 6 mm higher than your current laminate, then the new floor will be 8mm higher than the tile...etc

#3) $700-$1100 without removal & moulding.

#4) Condo removal & disposal probably $500-$900.

If you are half handy with tools, I recommend DIY. Laminates are pretty easy to install.