Redoing kitchen floors?

[Al Willits]

Figured this was a good as spot as any to ask...:)

Part of my pentance for buying all these wood tools is I have to redo the kitchen floor, we have linoeum now and its getting a bit worn.

Wife wants to just lay the Congoleum Durastone tiles over the exsisting floor, or use possibly a 1/4" plywood then the tiles and I'm thinking this might raise the exsisting floor to far to blend with the connecting rooms.
Also doors may not have enough clearance under them, but that I can check.

I'd rather rip up the linoeum and lay it on the sub floor to keep it level or close to, with the other floors.

Any thoughts?
tia

Al

[tod evans]

al, "ripping up" linoeum can often be a major headache depending on what glue was used over what substraight. worse case it`s easier to cut out the subfloor and replace it too, best case it pulls up easily.
i have no idea what "durastone" is but if it`s anything like regular tile you`ll need to lay down either concrete board or that new mud-in-place plastic tile barrier in order to have the floor stay put. also you don`t mention the condition of the existing floor, it it straight-n-level? does it have a bounce to it when you walk? if it`s straight-n-level and structually sound (no bounce) then you`re good to go with the concrete board ect. if not you`ll need to address the framing issues. .02 tod

[Al Willits]

Not sure if this will help decsribe Durastone, but here's the website.

http://www.congoleum.com/res-products.php?product_line=durastone

Floor is strong and stable, my main concern is adding a layer under the new tile and then the tile that it will stick up ebough to cause problems.
Wife doesn't think so, but I'm not so sure.
I'm thinking maybe 3/8ths to a half inch added floor height?

Thanks.

Al

[tod evans]

al, how thick is this product? is it tile or another vinyl? the website doesn`t say. i`m guessing that it`s in the 1/16-1/8" thickness from your post that the floor will be raised 3/8-1/2". what adhesive does the manufacturer recomend? if it`s not thinset or tile mastic then my earlier post should be dissregarded. if you`re going to lay vinyl on a floor that currently has vinyl on it you`ll most likely either need to put down underlayment or replace the subfloor. removing old vinyl to where the floor is smooth is generally next to impossible and applying leveling compounds in an attempt to avoid removing all of the old glue is a recipe for disaster..02 tod

[Al Willits]

Went and checked, not as thick as I was thinking.
Stuff appears to be about a 1/10 of a inch, congoleum recommends their glue/coating as a first coat.
As everybody has said ripping the old stuff up is a lot of work, I think we'll just lay it on top of the existing floor. thanks.


Al