SteveBell wrote:
Higgs Boson | 2010-01-22 | 6:33:19 PM wrote:

I am following this thread with great interest. My kitchen sheet
vinyl is tired, big-time. Have been looking at alternatives (price is big
consideration).
QUESTION: When this vinyl was put down, somewhere in the late
Pleistocene, the floor layer guy that it would be "impossible" --
meaning, I guess, very difficult -- to remove it..

Can this be true? If so, is it possible to put down a new sheet vinyl
floorcovering OVER the old one?

Remove the vinyl with a floor scraper.
Smooth the floor with a belt sander. This will take off most of the remaining adhesive.
Fill any low spots.

If you're putting in tile, the thinset will fill low spots just fine.

I'd pull up the underlayment and vinyl together, down to the original
subfloor, before I would belt-sand a kitchen full of hardened adhesive
with who-knows-what in it, and dispersing it through the house as fine
dust. Of course, doing that properly would also mean pulling out the
base cabinets. If the kitchen redo is a gut job, no big deal, but if
only the vinyl needs a refresh, and the difference in floor height isn't
a show-stopper, a layer of whatever they sell in your area for overlay
underlayment (and around here, it IS luan, with printed screw marks on
it) is the cost-effective way to go. Back in the stone age, we used 1/2"
or 5/8" particle board as kitchen underlayment, but if it ever got wet,
it was a major pita. Thin plywood, methinks, would stand the occasional
oopsie leaking through a seam much better.
--
aem sends...