Can You Lay Vinyl Tile Over Old Commercial Grade, Low Pile Carpeting?
We are replacing or covering very old carpet in an old school. Of course, money is an issue. The carpet has been layed over tile and there is asbestos under the tile. To tear everything up is very expensive. We were wondering if we could just put the new tile over the old, thin commercial style carpet?
Absoultely not. First, it would probably be against code. Second, it would never, ever stick. Third even if you did get it to stick, it would crack and break apart.
There is not asbestos under the tile, the old tile is the asbestos.
You can try tearing up the old carpet to see if the asbestos tile stays down. If it does, you can legally put new carpet over the asbestos tile again.
You would probably not, (but you may it’s a legal issue) be able to put new tile over the asbestos tile because you would need to remove the old glue which would erode the asbestos tile releasing asbestos into the air.
Docs underlayment idea may work depending on the magnitude of the job but it sounds pretty iffy to me if the sub-floor is concrete. If it’s wood then it would work great. Do a cost analysis on underlayment vs. asbestos tile abatement.
I agree, absolutely not. Carpet, no matter the firmness, is a resilient flooring. This means there is “give” to it. Any non-resilient floor, such as vct, will break at the joint lines when walked upon if installed on carpet. Have you looked into modular carpeting? Many schools are doing this now since it’s so easy to replace individual carpet tiles. Here are a couple great commercial carpet companies:
http://www.interfaceinc.com/
http://www.leescarpets.com/site/index….
No you can not. Remove the carpet. As long as you dont remove the tile below, no problem. then cover the old tile with a 1/4″ underlayment. then your new tile.
NO! Enlist some friends to help you remove the carpet yourself to defray the cost. Using a good utility knife cut the carpet in small manageable sections, roll up and discard. Tile over the existing tile if it is legal to do so.