Reflooring on laminate

[nemno]

My flat needs a new floor for tenants. It currently has cheap scratched laminate with plastic quadrant fitted badly against the skirting board. I have no idea what is underneath, some sort of boarding I guess. If I don't want new laminate does vinyl/Karndean/Lino/Carpet (or whatever) go on top? That sounds cheaper than ripping it up. There are rules in the block about hard floors (not allowed) so we have always had large rugs over the existing floor. The bedrooms are carpeted. Anyone got any advice for what would be a good, cost effective way of reflooring please?

In short: no. Laminate flooring is a floating floor. It isn't fixed to the subfloor in anyway, the beading (quadrant?) just hides the edges and gives a neater finish.

If the laminate looks to be pretty level, the subfloor is probably fine. You can get hard wearing carpet which isn't horrendously expensive. Buy the underlay online - miles cheaper than from a carpet retailer.

Oh and you could put vinyl of some description in the hall, bathroom and kitchen. A local independent is probably cheaper for that than the likes of CarpetRight; that's certainly been my experience anyway.

Don't cut corners on things like flooring - decent stuff lasts longer, looks better, wears better and can be successfully cleaned more easily too. You might want to consider modern polypropylene carpet in the bedrooms if cost is a big issue.

wowfudge do you think it best to rip up all the laminate before underlay and carpet? I have similar issue to OP. It sounds like a lot of work to pull up the laminate ...

Laminate tends to come up pretty easily because it's only attached to itself - it's often like a jigsaw and should come up without damaging any underlay.

Thank you for your help. I will tentatively look at what is under the laminate. The walls seem to be made of very thin board (modern high rise), as is the ceiling and the laminate feels like the most solid surface. In fact I feel a running jump into an outer wall would burst through! We shall see.

Creeping back. Is there a reason not to lay something on top of laminate? It would save having to dispose of it (10th floor, only one lift, city street).

laminate is a rubbish material. I see no reason to keep it.

I've taken up laminate which some clown had carpeted over the top off myself in the past. It took about an hour to pull it up and take it to the tip just me on my tod. Room 13' square plus hallway.

When we moved into our house the vendor's relatives who'd been living here removed the living room carpet when they went - leaving gripper rods all around the edge of the laminate. Nice. Not.

There was a thin foam underlay under the laminate then floorboards. We have since carpeted.

Get rid of it nemno. It is frankly daft to lay anything on top of laminate. The floor is likely to be hard boarded (leave that down for vinyl or luxury vinyl tiles like Karndean) or concrete. If it's an older building you might have floorboards.

I haven't explained properly have I? You need carpet to be attached to the floor because it is stretched to fit properly and is usually tucked under the skirting boards round the edges. It'll never be right laid on laminate. Vinyl needs to hug the floor to lie flat and laminate moves so it'll probably ruck up over time. No fitter of Karndean, etc will want to lay it on top of laminate and it won't be guaranteed to last, again because the laminate will move. Don't cut corners. It'll look a pig and will be a false economy.

Thank you for taking time to explain wowfudge. I do like to know exactly why something won't work. But I've had a peek at the subfloor. It is some kind of boarding but doesn't look very robust. If it's the same as under the carpet outside our front door then it will have to be changed too. The floor there moves and creaks .

I suspect the floor is concrete with quite thick boards laid on top - mdf type boards. They do shift over time and if the building is relatively new, as you do get some settlement. It's like that in the building I work in.

Leave the boards until you've decided what you want to put down and had a couple of flooring people come round to measure up and quote. You did say the laminate was solid and as that just sits on top of the boards, they must be pretty good. If you rip them up too you could send the cost of replacing the laminate with something else
sky high.