Can you put luxury vinyl planks over hardwood/linoleum/and subfloor?

[Ericfox]

We had a flooring contractor suggest we could lay our new LVP in our kitchen on top of existing 1/4 subfloor, linoleum, and engineered hardwood so that would be three layers of flooring on top of the subfloor. He also suggested we could thinset on top of our ceramic tile in another room to level it equal with the hardwood and then build up our living room with plywood to make it the same level as the kitchen’s hardwood. Can anyone comment if this is an OK recommendation? He said it would be the easiest way to make everything level/equal and prevent having to adjust the door frames down to fill in a gap in our kitchen due to the difference in height.

 

[Tile Tom]

That's a great question.

The thing is that it's not the recommend way to install them..... But it's done all the time successfully with zero issues.

I think the better question is how much do you trust this contractor? Is he/they a reputable flooring contractor in your area? Should something fail would he stand behind his decision to install it that way and make things right?

 

[C.J.]

Cost is usually the main reason things are done the way they are done. Demoing all the existing flooring is the best thing to do but are you willing to pay for it. Can you live with any gaps at your door jambs. Are you willing to retrim your doors and fill any gaps in the jambs themselves. Or will you be willing to either install underlayment or backer board to bring your finished floor height back up to what it currently is now. This option also comes with additional costs. The reality for many people is they don’t want to or can’t afford to pay for all that so you get what your contractor suggested.

So I guess more important than what is and isn’t the best way to do things, the real question is what are you willing to pay for.