Pergo over old vinyl sheet in basement?

knight508

Hello all,

I did some searching but didn't find an exact scenario to match this. In my basement (on this side of the house it's at/above grade) I have some old gaudy vinyl sheeting covering the floor. There's a big old ugly seam cover right down the middle and I was thinking about ways to go about fixing this. I've been looking at floating floors/Pergo and read that you can place Pergo over vinyl sheet but if in a basement you'll still need to lay down a moisture barrier. Is this true?

In addition how would I go about making the seam cover level since it's obviously a good bit higher than the flooring? I was thinking about pulling it up and possibly filling the gap (if it's a big enough one) with maybe a folded over underlayment?

In addition the flooring wraps around a little bar but for some reason they didn't bother completely laying down vinyl for about 3/4 behind the bar. Instead it's a beat up, skinny, gappy carpet. I'm assuming I'd have to tear it up but I'd think I would have to but a reducer in since it would be a bit lower than the rest of the floor. Any thoughts? Thanks!

joecaption

Use engineered flooring instead, it's going to be below grade rated unlike most laminites.
It can be installed as a floating floor.

knight508

Thanks for the heads up in regards to engineered flooring. Didn't even know it existed. It seems a bit more expensive but more durable and nicer looking; worthwhile choice in my opinion. I found builddirect.com as a seemingly good place to get the stuff, anyone else buy from there?

In regards to the situation with the seam cover I'm assuming the gap is small enough to not be a worry. I'm still concerned about the majority of the floor behind the bar being that beatup old carpet. It seems the EF is put together in just about the same exact fashion as Pergo.

ToolSeeker

Also with the engineered you can get a glue that acts as a vapor barrier.