Replacement of the carpet in our kitchen is a decade or more past due. Appearance of linoleum in a doorway indicates to me that the carpet is laid on linoleum. My wife kind of likes the idea of a laminated floor to replace the carpet, which raises a few questions. There is less than 1/2 inch clearance between the top of the refrigerator and the bottom of a cabinet. Will this be a problem with laminated material? Should the laminated material be laid directly on the linoleum, assuming I can get the carpet loose from the linoleum? Should an old geezer tackle installing new laminate material? I seems to me that it would be fairly simple. Am I deceiving myself? My wife will probably want me to have it laid by a pro, or what passes as a pro these days. I had some outside work done by the pros at Mr. Handyman. I wasn't impressed.
Don't forget to run the new flooring under the dishwasher so it isn't trapped. Big box stores likely carry laminated flooring and could provide installation instructions for perusal.
Coupla' caveats: I had a laminate floor a few years ago in another house.
Some laminates do not do well with water -as in kitchen spills. Pergo [dunno about today's product] swells and delaminates when wet. A friend had their kitchen's Pergo delaminate 2 times before going with another brand on floor #3. Before selecting mine I got samples and chucked them into a bucket of water for a day or so to be sure they didn't delaminate.
The instructions make it sound really easy. It is in fact quite fussy as to exactly how tight you put the planks together. Tenting vs too wide a gap and all that. I got someone to do it for me. Easier on the knees anyway.
I have installed about an acre of laminate flooring. I am in my geezer years. The process is fairly easy but involves a LOT of bending and stooping.
Some random thoughts. There are at least two different "grades" available. The cheap stuff is poor quality and will fail immediately if it gets wet. Not good in a kitchen. The better stuff is extremely water resistant. Double check that carefully. Get a small sample and put it in a bucket of water for a few days. Should have no effect.
All I have ever installed has been about and 1/2" thick or less. Some of it comes with a layer of cushion on the back. Other is smooth on the back and you install a layer of cushion. I have used the cheap stuff that looks to be 1/8" thick and made from polyethylene.
Sort of an aside....I know a woman who had it installed and hated the noise it makes when walked on with high heels. (Kind of tonk tonk tonk.) She made them take it out and replace it with hardwood.
There has to be room around the perimeter for expansion and contraction. If your base is raised up for the carpet, that's good. If not, the shoe molding will give you enough room. You will need a way to undercut the door trim. Pro's have a specialized saw for this. I use my Multitool. You can do it with one of the Japanese style pull saws. Lay a scrap on the floor and run your saw on top and through and under the trim. This is much easier than trying to fit the floor to the trim.
I use blocks of hardwood as "beating blocks" to tap pieces up tight. Be aware that the whole floor will kind of slip and slid and you can move it around quite easily with a few judicious taps. A rubber hammer is useful.
If you plan to cut it with a saw (RAS, Chop saw, etc), be prepared to replace the blade. The Stuff is very hard and some of it has aluminum oxide in the finish. There is a cutter for it something like a guillotine but I have never used one.
I could go on and on. Let me know if you decide to go on with this.
I'm not sure at what age you become a geezer, but I've installed laminate flooring several times, including several times over linoleum. Just be sure your linoleum is flat if there are any seams. Any bumps in the existing floor will transmit through the laminate.
Buy a good quality laminate and the under layment material unless it is integral to the flooring. Your first step is to lay one course perfectly straight. This is critical for the rest of the floor. You may need to trim piece to fit against existing non-straight walls or cabinets. Like laying tile you want to measure the width of the room so you don't end up with a skinny piece at one side and a full width piece on the other side. Run a chalk line so you know the leading edge of your first course is straight. Space out your seams along the lengths.
Plan your transitions to other flooring. I prefer to make my own threshold strips instead of using the ones that are provided by flooring manufacturers. With home made ones you can adjust for differences in floor height.
Thanks for the comments! That is just the information I was looking for. I hadn't thought anything about the door trim but I sure like the idea of cutting the bottom of the trim rather than trying to fit the flooring to it.
The dishwasher is sitting on the old linoleum now, not on the carpet, so I might not need to put the laminate under it. The stove sits on the carpet so I would put the laminate under it.
Is there any problem with putting the laminate on the old linoleum that is under the carpet, assuming the floor is level? I was thinking that the room might be square since this is a 1966 house but then I realized that the peninsula counter and the rest of the cabinets were installed long after the house was built. I probably can't trust them it to be square with the world.
As far as geezerdom is concerned, I might not be quite there yet. I am only 82 and I thing geezerdom officially starts at 85. Then again, I might be wrong about that.
Almost any servicing of a dishwasher requires that it be slid out from under the counter. Same with replacing one. I've heard stories of neit was new flooring being run up to the front of the dishwasher, and when it had to be pulled out it was necessary to unscrew the countertop from the cabinets and wedge it up to get the dishwasher up and over the new flooring.
I installed a new dishwasher a few years ago - that's why I know that it is sitting on the old linoleum. I was able to slide it into place off the carpet (and slide the old one out onto the carpet) so I know there is some wiggle room. However, I will be sure to check the clearances.
You think you’ve had dishwasher problems? About a quarter century ago, I lived in Florida, where they lay the plumbing on the ground before they pour the concrete slab on top of it. An armadillo dug a hole under the slab and damaged the hot water pipe that fed the kitchen and an upstairs bathroom. I figured out it was leaking when the golden retriever developed a preference for sleeping in one particular (warm) spot on the tile in the front hall. The pros I hired to fix it did the smart thing, cut the old pipe at both ends, ran a new copper pipe from the heater in the garage, up through the walls to the attic space above the second floor, across the house above the ceilings, down through the wall behind the upstairs bathroom, down through the wall between the kitchen and dining room, under the cabinets and dishwasher and under the sink, making new attachments on both floors. When the dishwasher failed a couple years later and I tried to replace it, I discovered its supports were two steel hoops, one under each side of the box. They had run the pipe right through them, instead of routing it behind them. There was no way I could pull out the old dishwasher or install the new one without cutting the hot water pipe and rerouting it with some elbows behind the dishwasher’s legs. In many cases, the “pro” title just means they know and are willing to use a bunch of dirty tricks.
Whenever I use my oldish (only 78) hands to do something like tightening a bunch of bolts on my cars or installing screws on a project, I'll get those errant finger movements for the next day or two, along with additional arthritic discomfort.
We laid laminated on top of our linoleum in our breakfast room several years ago. Ours was ~3/8" and there was a foam underlay. So, it would be close to 1/2". But, it was very easy and fast to install. I made the transition pieces myself. The stain matched almost perfect. We've been very happy with it.
To qualify, this was a Pergo product with real wood surface that is no longer made (too bad). Laid down the foam stuff first and taped the seams with their 'special' tape. The strips required glue, but snapped together. Very little cutting. I used the old base molding (quarter round). Left the molding alone. Not thrilled with the effective shortening of the molding, but it works and most of it is behind furniture anyway. And, its only us in the house with no animals, but it has held up very well. Gets lots of traffic. I don't wear outside shoes in the house, but the wife does.
We're sold and would do this type of thing again. Only complaint is that it is hard to get the stuff smudge free. I've tried all sorts of special floor cleaners, but still get streaks/smudges.
We have had an Allure Trafficmaster Vinyl floor on 2/3rds of the main floor for about 8 years now. It has held up great under 2 dogs,2 cats, kids. It is a floating floor about 4mm thick the planks shiplap and adhere to each other and not the floor. It is waterproof,cleans quickly with a steam mop,can be vacuumed or broomed. It was easy to install only needing a utility knife,a speed square and a scrap of plywood for a cutting surface. It is covered by shoe moulding/quarter round to hide the expansion gaps of a floating floor.
I was going to mention the vinyl plank flooring. I have no experience with installing it, but it sure is appealing. I wonder about the water proof aspect. The vinyl itself would be water proof, but I think water would leak through the assembled flooring. Hard to believe it is water proof and the same way a sheet of vinyl is and that might not be a good think in a kitchen. If water got under it, It would take a very long time to dry.
Look at the idea of removing the range and dishwasher. Even the cabinets. Much easier to install the flooring without all the clutter. the other problem with putting the dishwasher in without the flooring under it is any leak MUST go under the floor. The last one I did I put a three sided pan under the dishwasher so the water would run out the front, giving my notice of the leak.
I have found the "hook" that you can get in the installation kit to be useful. Allows you to "pull" a piece out for the wall. In my case I just used scraps of laminate for spacers around the walls, but the little sims in the kit work also. If you use the hook, put some tape on the back of it to keep it from scratching the floor.
