Can Cork Laid Over Vinyl

Lovely finish but a lot of mucking around.

Can cork laid over vinyl.

Certain adhesives are not recommended over existing sheet vinyl or vinyl and cork tile flooring unless an underlayment is put down first. Sheet vinyl if secure makes a fine underlayment. Maybe just vinyl over the top of them. If it s concrete or pinex i m not sure i d bother removing the cork tiles.

However a floor patch product usually needs to be applied called skim coating. Cement board tile and grout will add significant dead weight to your flooring system which means you will need a hefty substrate that will have minimum deflection. Wide seams between the tiles can create slight depressions in the vinyl flooring. And before you ask no this is not an option with vinyl vinyl doesn t like cork and cork doesn t like vinyl.

First make sure the subfloor and underlayment have a combined total thickness of at least 1 1 4 inches. Installing ceramic tile over vinyl or linoleum surfaces can be more complicated than expected and probably should be avoided whenever possible. If it s wood it may be worth taking the cork tiles off sanding the floor and just polyurethaning it. Although it s not the installation that we show cork can be glued to a flat smooth and moisture free concrete floor.

Thick over your existing flooring. If you are ok with a regular laminate and don t mind it deteriorating in 3 7 years you can always use a regular laminate that is lain straight over top of the cork. The design and shape of the cork tiles will almost certainly transpose through the vinyl if you lay straight over the top you may also have a reaction between the cork tiles and vinyl resulting in black marks showing through the vinyl. Cracked or missing tiles should be fixed or filled in.

The cork floor itself can be the underpad for regular laminate. If your vinyl meets the basic requirements it requires some preparation before you lay ceramic or stone tile over it. If the tile floor has wide or deep seams use an underlayment rather than installing the vinyl directly on the tile. Hold a piece of vinyl up to the light and you will see that light and shapes are easy to see through it.

However if you can t remove the old surface or otherwise decide to install over it lay a backer board with thin set over the old surface to serve as your new subfloor material. Vinyl flooring can be installed directly over ceramic and porcelain tile flooring. You can t install them directly over plank flooring vinyl or linoleum. You ll need to screw a plywood underlayment at least 1 4 in.