Can I Install New Flooring Over My Old Floors?

Those “flooring over flooring” commercials make it look effortless, but the real story lives underneath your feet. We talk through the truth about installing new flooring over existing flooring, including the hidden risks that can turn a quick upgrade into a costly do-over. If you’re weighing luxury vinyl plank, engineered hardwood, or tile and wondering whether you can skip demolition, we lay out a clear decision path based on what actually happens on job sites.

We get specific about why carpet-over-carpet is a non-starter, and why hard-surface overlays often collide with manufacturer warranty rules. Jason shares a cautionary tale where a thin rigid core LVP seemed like the perfect overlay, until hollow spots revealed the old glue-down wood floor wasn’t attached correctly. That’s the moment where “saving money” can become paying twice, because movement, unevenness, and poor subfloor prep show up later as noise, separation, or failure. 

We also cover the exceptions where going over an existing floor makes sense. Think commercial flooring with older vinyl composite tile that may contain asbestos, where removal can become a hazmat-level expense, or a kitchen where tile runs under cabinets and a smart leveling approach avoids tearing out half the room. Finally, we hit the biggest deal breaker: moisture. If water is involved, you need to find the source and fix it before anything new goes down. 

If you want a floor that lasts, take these tips to your next estimate, then subscribe, share this with a friend planning a remodel, and leave a quick review so more homeowners find it.

To learn more about BPS Southeast Flooring visit:
https://www.BPSSoutheast.com
BPS Southeast Flooring 
Servicing Rutherford, Polk, Henderson and Cleveland County 
828-532-2141 

Transcript

Welcome And The Big Question

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the BPS Southeast Touring Podcast, where beautiful spaces start from the ground up. Hosted by Jason Trent, owner of BPS Southeast, serving homeowners, businesses, interior designers, remodelers, and flippers across Western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina. From luxury vinyl and hardwood to carpet and tile, if it goes underfoot, we've got you covered. Expect practical tips, money-saving insights, and the occasional bad dad joint. Because around here, it's flooring for everyone. Let's roll without the bubbles.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

If you've ever wondered whether you can skip the demolition and still get beautiful new floors, this one's for you. Jason breaks down when it works, when it does not, and how to avoid costly mistakes. Welcome everyone. I'm Julie Schwenzer here with the awesome Jason Trim, the owner of BPS Southeast. Jason, thank you again for joining us. If we can dive right in, can we actually install new flooring over existing flooring in any case?

Why Warranties Usually Break

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Technically, you're not supposed to, but you do see a lot of advertising from other companies, such as I can't put a name to it because I don't want to specify a brand or anything, but you'll see the commercials where they're putting a click flooring over an existing wood flooring, or you'll see different promos that you'll see it more with hard surfaces over an existing hard surfaces. Most people should know that if you're like replacing carpet, you don't want to put new carpet over the top of it. Doesn't work. Not only that, but mostly your when your carpet's wore out, it's worn out. When you pull it up, it's usually pretty nasty underneath it between all the dirt over the years going through it and stains and everything. So you want to get rid of your carpet. When it comes to hard surfaces, it varies on the situation. Technically, warranty-wise, they won't really respect your warranty because you're building on a surface that's built onto another surface. So you can't warranty the previous flooring how it was installed over the existing substrate.

Hollow Spots And Hidden Failures

SPEAKER_01 2:13

An example that you could give it's say we went to a home that the customer had a glue-down wood flooring, he didn't want to pay for the removal, and we said, okay, we'll see what we can do. So we tried to go look, see if we could go over it with a click flooring, which wasn't real thick, it was an as it was a uh rigid core luxury vinyl, so it's five millimeters thick, so not real thick, wouldn't raise the height of the floor much. But once we got the furniture removed, the installers started finding hollow spaces in the floor where the flooring wasn't attached properly. And it's one of those we could have installed the flooring, but we wouldn't have been able to warranty the quality of it because the flooring behind it isn't attached to the subfloor properly. So it's one of those the customer allowed us to go ahead and remove the flooring, and he paid for that cost because we wanted to ensure that floors are flat, the floors are properly prepared for the new flooring, so you get the longevity of the flooring.

Tile Under Cabinets Workaround

SPEAKER_01 3:18

So there was an instance where we did not replace the flooring with tear it all out. There was a kitchen in the mountains that the tile was not installed properly. I mean, I could I took a pocket knife and just a little bit of grout drunk and pop the tile up. I mean, the tile wasn't even sticking to anything, so it came up very easily. But the problem we had run into is the tile was installed before the cabinet. So the cabinets were sitting on top of an installed floor. So we removed the loose tiles, and we weren't going to try to fight the other ones that were partially under the cabinets, but we removed as much as we could and then applied leveling cement over the whole floor, just a very thin coat over the tile that we didn't pull up, and then installed a click-together tile visual luxury vinyl tile over the top of it. So we eliminated the problem the customer was having of the tiles shifting and moving because we took up everything that was loose that we possibly could in the main traffic areas, and then the areas that were the tiles that were actually from the visual area to under the cabinets, we left in place. So it raised the floor a little bit, but we made the difference at the door transition with a transition piece. But as an average, we really recommend removing the old flooring. We even had one recently where the customer had a solid wood floor, she wanted the sheet vinyl removed, and there were two thoughts on it either go over it, remove the first level of sheet vinyl, put an engineered hardwood that could be sand and refinished that's thinner than the regular kind, and then you'd have a little bit of a raise to the new room. But I really wanted to remove everything, so it ended up being removing three layers of sheet vinyl and underlayment. But when we put the hardwood flooring, it matched the exact height of the existing flooring in the other rooms. So there was no longer a little transition height difference, it was all the same height, which the customer was much happier with that look that it looked like it always had been that way. So it does cost more to remove it, but it also allows you to find, even when we did that, we found some damaged subfloor that needed to be repaired. So it allows you to get in there, get into the weeds of is the subfloor in good shape? Is there damage? Is there could there be a moisture issue that you're not seeing? Just because things happen over the years that you just may not notice, but when you replace the flooring, it's a good time to check.

Commercial Cases Like Asbestos Tile

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Um, so I have a question, Jason. When you address businesses versus homeowners, do you see that businesses usually do it the proper way because there's more um that they might need to make sure is in line or goes according to regulation or for safety reasons? And of course, warranty that they they install the floor properly and they remove it first versus homeowners who might try to bypass that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Businesses I see it do both because older businesses that typically have a vinyl compositile, which is what you see, those little colored squares that people polish and strip. Sometimes when you get to a certain age of those products, they're made with asbestos, and to remove them is extremely expensive because it's becomes a hazmat removal. So the cost of removing a product like that can get extremely expensive because you have the proper attire you have to wear, the process of removing it, it's just an expensive ordeal. So I have seen in those instances where we will put a flooring over the top of that. There are some products that we can get that will you can roll onto it to kind of prepare it for a new surface. So if you're gluing something to it, it sticks to it properly. So there's a there's a few things in commercial projects where you might run into some situations where you might go over something, but you're still going to be primarily in hard surfaces that you're gonna be doing that over. So even on something like that, if you went past that product to another subfloor that didn't have it, you're a very, very small thickness change. So you could feather that out with a little bit of cement and then just go over the whole thing with a new flooring. So there are some instances where it's more cost effective and it isn't if you've had certain hard surfaces like that, the products not coming up. There are installation methods and commercial projects that allow you to kind of work around some of that because of the type of installation and the type of products you're putting in.

Moisture Risks And Money Saving Rules

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Is it like a moisture issue? Is it something else?

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Anything that's a restoration issue. So if there's moisture issue, if there, if there was you see physical damage and you're gonna put something new, I would encourage to remove it, especially moisture. Moisture is one of those things that you need to track where it's coming from because if you don't know that it's fixed, it's just gonna keep going bad. And that flooring that you're putting new flooring over is gonna get worse. So then that's gonna affect the new flooring if you try to put it over the top of that. So you're just doubling the amount of work that you're gonna have to eventually go back and remove everything to still fix the problem. Moisture damage is one of those things that water is probably the most dangerous products when not controlled in a home that will cause rotting. It invites pest control problems, termites. There, there's a number of issues that can happen with water, mold when not treated and cared for and fixed. So having water issues dealt with is very important.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

And the last question for you if you could expand on some of the points that you just made, how would you give a general rule of thumb for advising clients? Like what would you say to them who want to save time and money?

SPEAKER_01 9:44

If you can tear out your own flooring, that's gonna save you money in the sense of having the installers come in and remove it. It may be an inconvenience, but a lot of people do have the tools or at least the know-how to remove flooring. Uh, installing can be a little more challenging to get it done right if you're not familiar with it. But let's say tearing out a wood flooring, that that could save you anywhere between two to eight dollars a square foot. Um, wood flooring can get there's two ways it gets installed, nailed or glued. If it's glued to the floor, it's going to be a bear to tear up either way. But if you can get the first layer off and then allow the installers to come in and do the fine tuning, it does save you money. I mean, it could in a large project, it can save you a lot of money. Carpet, same thing. If you can tear out the carpet yourself and move your furniture and put it on this plywood subfloor while you wait for the new carpet, it saves you money. It makes the installation go faster. Same thing with tile. If you can tear it out, get it ready for the installer. That's the fastest and most cost saving. Cleaning things up, making sure the workspace is neat, clean, swept, that they can see if there's any rot or damage. If you have the ability to replace that, go ahead and do it. Anything that you can do to get it ready for the installer to come in, that they're not having to do extra work behind you, then you're saving money. The installation side and floor prep, if it's hard surface, they're gonna have to see if the floor is flat. So there's gonna be some time involved with that. But any any step, I mean, that you can do that you feel comfortable with, you can take you'll save you money. Just don't, if you're working with the installer, ask what they would recommend you to do or not do. So they're not going back and have to fix anything that you did to get ready for what they're doing. That would cost more money.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Okay. Well, Jason, thank you for breaking that down so clearly. You always share great insight, and we appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Thank you.

Key Takeaways And Free Estimate

SPEAKER_02 11:49

That's today's step in the right direction from the BPS Southeast Flooring Podcast. Ready to finally love what you're standing on? Call Jason for a free estimate at 828-532-2141 or visit bpssoutheast.com. Luxury vinyl, hardwood, carpet, tile, flooring for everyone. Thanks for listening, and remember great rooms don't just happen, they're installed.