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.


Don't be concerned about the asbestos exposure. If it IS asbestos, it's
trapped in the substrate. Whatever you do, don't get it tested - you may be
forced to spend tens of thousands in remediation PLUS disclose to a
subsequent buyer.

The best solution is to scrape it up, put it in plastic bags, and discard
it.

If that's not possible, laminate flooring is pretty forgiving of
imperfections, since the planks are so big and thick. Do the best you can
about leveling, but it doesn't have to be as good as if you were laying
vinyl tile.