Can You Lay Vinyl On Hardwood Floors?

Hardwood flooring is a common choice for many people. It increases the value of a property and looks amazing. However, some households are tired of the hardwood floors they have lived with for so many years. There is a need for a change, a need for something fresh and new and the choice often falls on vinyl flooring is a great alternative to solid wood and engineered wood floors. Indeed, vinyl flooring has its advantages too and it looks amazing, especially compared to an older and worn wooden floor. However, the cost of lifting the old wooden floor to replace it with vinyl while preparing the subfloor for a different floor covering could be considerable. In such cases, people cannot help but think – could you lay vinyl onto a hardwood floor? Let’s find the answer today.

Hardwood Flooring as a Subfloor

Let’s start by saying that yes, vinyl can be laid on top of a hardwood floor. However, keep in mind that not every type of real wood flooring is suitable to be a base for the vinyl floorboards. In order to be able to lay a vinyl floor on top of a wooden one, you should make sure the latter one is fully glued to the original subfloor. This is required since only a fully glued hardwood floor can ensure enough stability and durability as a base for a new floor to be laid on top of it. Otherwise, a wooden floor that is installed the floating way, for example, cannot provide the structural integrity and stability of a good subfloor base. In case your hardwood floor is installed the floating way, you should first lift and remove it and then replace it with a vinyl floor.

What to Consider in the Process?

There is a number of factors and aspects you should consider in order to make sure you can actually lay a new vinyl floor on top of the existing hardwood one. First off, just like it would be with any other sort of subfloor, the hardwood floor should be in good condition and prepared properly before installation. This means that the hardwood floor may require a good and in-depth cleaning. Of course, you also want to make sure the hardwood floor is dry and level, otherwise, you won’t be able to achieve a durable and stable vinyl flooring structure on top of it and you may soon start to experience some serious moisture and stability issues, which is something no one wants for their newly installed floor, indeed. Make sure the hardwood floor is in overall good condition.

This is the right time to consider dealing with some issues and imperfections and ensuring the right repair treatments along with professional wood floor sanding. Sanding will take care of the possible unevenness of the hardwood floor and ensure a uniform and sleek surface to work as a solid base for the vinyl floor. Furthermore, experts recommend you to focus on improving the impact sound insulation of your floor too in order to prevent squeaky and noisy flooring. With the combination of vinyl flooring being laid on top of a hardwood floor, there is a higher chance of noisy flooring, therefore you are recommended to invest in a high-quality sound-proofing underlayment. Moisture-permeable materials such as cork or cardboard are a pretty good underlayment option in this case, however, you can also opt for a vinyl floor with integrated footfall insulation as many great options are available on the market.

Now, when it comes to choosing a vapour barrier as an underlayment, this option is not recommended in all cases and for all projects. Since hardwood flooring, as a natural material, has a porous structure, it easily absorbs and releases moisture when there is a change in the moisture levels in the house and increased humidity. Because of this species of hardwood floors, this can easily lead to waterlogging under the vapour barrier you have installed. As a result, your vinyl floor on top would get seriously damaged.

Now, there are some tips you can benefit from in order to ensure a very stable, solid, and durable flooring structure. A key thing is having the vinyl floor laid crosswise to the existing hardwood floor. However, keep in mind that light incidence can easily change the joint pattern, therefore we always recommend you hire a specialist to do the installation job for you and do not attempt it as a DIY project.

However, if you still feel confident enough to DIY the vinyl floor installation, experts recommend you opt for click system vinyl as it provides you with the benefit of a quick and very easy installation. Since click system vinyl does not require the usage of adhesive, once you decide to remove and lift the vinyl, it will be significantly easier than removing a glued-down vinyl floor and no adhesive residue will be left for you to deal with.

Now, vinyl flooring is designed to be less prone to moisture, humidity, and temperature fluctuations compared to real wood flooring. However, vinyl flooring still responds to more significant changes in the indoor environment by contracting, expanding and shrinking. In order to make sure there is enough scope and room for the process to happen without causing serious damage to both the floor and the hardwood base, make sure that expansion gaps are left during installation as they will give the floor the necessary room to expand without getting damaged and without the formation of undesirable gaps and dents.

Finally, keep in mind that by laying a vinyl floor or a hardwood one, you are pretty much changing the overall construction height or thickness of the flooring. Therefore, don’t forget about the rest of the room. You will most probably need to shorten doorframes and leaves accordingly, replace or change some flooring accessories, etc. The height difference at transitions between your new vinyl floor and the rest of the flooring in the house can easily be fixed by choosing the right flooring accessories.