Andrew Barss wrote:
I have a home office, which I want to re-floor with floating laminate
(Pergo, locking glueless). I pulled up the old carpet and
pad, and discovered (instead of the nice neat concrete I
was hoping for) two problems:

a) the previous floor was some sort of linoleum tile which, given the
age of the addition, may contain nasty stuff including asbestos.
Two thirds of this is in good condition, the rest is falling apart.

b) One area is bare concrete, but is not even with the rest
(off by 1/4 or so).


I can solve (b) by using a leveling compound, but not (a). My wife
is very concrned about asbestos exposure, and
the crumbly areas are nasty anyway.

I'm considering sealing off the previous floor with a plywood/OSB
subfloor. And using shims in the uneven part.


And I'm looking for advice:

-- floating, or nailed into the concrete?
-- What's the best material to use?
And vapor barrier underneath, on top, or both?

The whole room's floor is below that of an adjoining room anyway
(used to be a garage), so raising its floor height isn't an issue.

Thanks,


Andy Barss


----

you could level/seal/smooth the floor using a sovlent free floor epoxy
over everything

paul