How many layers of flooring???

[PWC Repair]

Ok, this is not my new shop, it's my old kitchen. I just had to share and get your thoughts on this. My wife has been slowly remodeling the kitchen and I told her to pull up the underlayment. Here is what she found.
YES!.....thats 4 layers under the underlayment. So including the linoleum in there now that's 6 layers total!!!
I guess my question would be, when do you stop and think hmmmm.....should I put another layer on here??

 

[The Cobbler]

some of the contract work I do we often install floors over 4 or 5 layers . each layer is 1/4 ply & vct tile (3/8" total each layer) .

depends on the level of the surrounding floors. ( keep the layers flush with surrounding)

 

[James-W]

Depending on what type of flooring you want to install, you may need to remove some, or perhaps all, of the old layers.

 

[apollo11]

I guess my question would be, when do you stop and think hmmmm.....should I put another layer on here??

when you get to the subfloor

 

[T_R]

Not uncommon in old houses. I once owned one that had diagonal 1x4s as subfloor, then a layer of old newspapers from the 30's. Over that was 4 layers of linoleum then a layer of carpet tiles, then a wall to wall carpet.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I stopped at 3 and removed one before the new floor was installed.

 

[TractorJeff]

The barn I live in has 2 layers and the guy who air stapled the 1/4" plywood went crazy with the staples! Takes forever to get it tore up! The plus side is you can go through and screw down the squeaky sub floor.

 

[JR 42]

I used to live in a house that had 7 or 8 layers of sheet flooring in the kitchen, 3 of them over thin pressboard underlayment. The whole stack was over an inch thick. Under the original tile-pattern linoleum (1930 build, sheet vinyl didn't exist yet) was 3-1/4" face width B-grade Doug Fir that looked outstanding (B-grade in 1930 would be something like AAAAAAA grade today), over diagonal 1x8 shiplap.

If you're putting down 1/4" ACX, you can keep adding layers. If you're going over the existing sheet, there's a limit. I don't know of any manufacturers who'll recommend more than two existing layers under new product, and that's only for fiberglass-backed sheet vinyl (and it's never the best choice, just the cheapest).

(Insert standard asbestos warning here...)

JR

 

[WQ59B]

I just pulled up a kitchen floor in a 1907 house; over the original T&G hardwood planking was : tarpaper, sheet linoleum, newspaper layer, linoleum tile, Lauan, linoleum tile, sheet vinyl = 7 layers. I dunno; other than the transitions to adjoining rooms, it makes for a real solid floor.

 

[Colin Len]

That many layers bugs the hell out of me and just screams laziness. Personally I'd tear it all down to the subfloor and start fresh unless there was some very good reason not to. The idiots who owned my house prior to me decided to put down tile on top of some type of backer board on top of linoleum which is on top of something else which is on top of the subfloor. Thanks to all of those damn layers I had to remove tiles in order to remove and replace my dishwasher when it broke a couple years back

 

[Kandy]

We also have a hardwood flooring in our house. It looks great and give a classy look.

 

[starquestMM]

My kitchen looked like that too. Couldn't get the dishwasher out when it broke...