Q. I want to buy 12" x 12" vinyl flooring and place it on top of a laminate flooring that is currently there. The installation for the vinyl flooring is "peel and stick". Will the vinyl flooring adhere to the laminate flooring ok? Is any additional adhesive needed? Thanks in advance :)

A. It may stick but it won t last. The movement in laminate will cause the laminate seams to telescope thru and show and eventually crack the vinyl. Laminate is so easy to take up and save . GL

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Q. The sub pump in my basement failed twice in my 12 years living in this home, so im not sure if i can use laminate flooring in my basement, the wood kind. i really dont want to put tile down there

A. Carpet is the most preferred option for the basement flooring due to its low cost, softness and sound muffling quality. It is comfortable to use and provides warmth in winter. Cement flooring is also a popular choice for basement. In fact, it is the most affordable and durable materials till date. laminate flooring probably isn't a great choice because water could lift them.

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Q. I live in a tri-level home. The upstairs has hardwood floors in all but the bathroom and it has ceramic tile. The main floor will soon be remodeled so its not an issue at this point. The bottom level has a bathroom, pantry and bedroom. We have gutted the bathroom and are trying to decide what type of floor to put down. Its a concrete floor as of now. What kind of floor would be best and should i do the ENTIRE lower level the same flooring? Im thinking resale value.

A. Any moisture at all in that lower level, I d do that whole area in ceramic..And if the house is a few years old, and you have no vapor barriers , again I d do ceramic. Using area rugs as needed. Any moisture issues at all or no vapor barrier I wouldn t do any carpet or vinyl since it can ruin carpet and the hydro static pressure can blow off any vinyl glued down. If this level comes off a garage again I d do ceramic.. If you have a vapor barrier and have no moisture troubles a glue direct engineered hard wood looks great and ceramic in the bath unless its a 1/2 bath then you can let it flow right in there but thats your choice. Any other flooring questions you can e mail me thru my avatar GL

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Q. My living room is has laminate flooring but i would like to change it to white flooring permenantly. what is the best way to do this? i saw this item in ikea called floor lining would that work?

A. The lining actually goes under the laminate - so it wouldn't work. You would need to either paint the laminate with a primer then white floor paint - which is actually not a bad look - but you can't really use the floor until the paint cures - which is a few weeks, plus you will need to repaint every few years.

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Q. I live in Sydney, northern suburbs. I'm trying to find the optimum solution for a bedroom floor to replace the sick carpets with an alternative healthy floor. My ideal is bright sand color flooring. Timber seems not that tough as bamboo, but bamboo products are imported from China and the quality may not be as good. If anyone has a bamboo floor for a few years now, I'd like to hear from you, and if you are happy with the quality, please let me know where to buy it from.

A. Well we haven't had it for two years, but we have had it for a couple of months. we have the dark maroon color and it shows dust and cleaning streaks retty badly so i have to clean it every other day to. i wish i would have went with the lighter color now like you are talking about. as for scratches, since ours is so dark, the deep ones do show but i go over them with a matching stain. i have never noticed lighter scratches. but since you are talking about getting the lighter colored flooring, the scratches wouldn't show up very easily. we were very happy with the quality. it wasn't like hardwood flooring where you have to inspect each piece before you put it down, each one that came out of the box was in perfect condition. and the brand we bought was nice and thick.

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Q. I have an invalid living in my house. He sometimes cannot control his bowels and makes a mess in the floor. I currently have carpet over hardwood floor. I need the carpet to be taken out and want to find some sort of flooring that can be mopped with Clorox or Lysol in water to destroy odor. I would like to avoid any type of flooring that would have to be glued to the hardwood. It appears that all vinyl flooring has to glued down. Does anyone have any idea what I can put over the hardwood that will stand up to some serious cleaning?

A. Try laminate flooring, it is easy to install by locking the pieces together like a puzzle and it floats(needs no glue). It also cleans like a dream, we just got it and love it. You can get the kind that looks like wood or tile. We have the ceramic tile type and it really looks like tile. GL!

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Q. The laminate floor in my bathroom has dye/paint on it and I don't know how to get it off. The color came from the dye/decoration on a plastic bag that got wedged under a hamper and got wet. The ink transferred to the floor and now I don't know how to get it off. The flooring is not the best, and I know that if I use a scrubby on it I'll just damage the floor. Any suggestions? The floor is off white, so something that would bleach out the color without damaging the floor might work, but I don't know anything like that either (regular bleach will not work). Thanks!

A. I wish I knew. Sixteen years ago, my step-son and I were dying Easter eggs and some of the dye spilled on the flooring. I am the guru of cleaning, but I have found no solution to this problem. Good luck.

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Q. I am about to have some vinyl flooring fitted in my kitchen and would grateful for any suggestions as to what I can use for cushioning and to try and keep the floor as warm as possible under foot. I have had vinyl flooring before and it is still hard and cold when standing on the flooring. I have even tried cork tiles and this did not seem to make a huge difference. Would a laminate and wood flooring underlay be suitable or would this be a waste of time? I should add that I am in the UK.

A. An idea, There is a product by DRIcore subfloor which is designed to be put over concrete floors in basements, playrooms etc, this may be something you would want to look into, it would serve all your needs. Lowes carries this by the way, here's a link to the DRIcore website http://www.dricore.com/en/eIndex.aspx

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