I've got a small closet in my 1985 condo that contains the water heater, HVAC, and W/D. I'm trying to figure out the best way to get a new floor in there. The existing floor seems to be vinyl tile on top of sheet vinyl, on top of a thin plywood underlayment (in the first photo, you can see the exposed and peeling bottom layer of vinyl where the broom is - this is where the W/D sits so isn't normally exposed). There are areas where both of the existing vinyl layers are peeling up and/or warped a bit (presumably due to the temperature and humidity conditions in this room).
I'd like to lay new peel-and-stick vinyl tile (since that seems easiest…), but I'm not sure what to do with the existing floor. I figure my options are (from least to most thorough):
- Just prep and lay on top of existing floor. To properly do this, would need to somehow secure the peeling layers back down to the underlayment - that seems like it might be really difficult!
- Remove existing vinyl. This sounds doable with heat and perhaps chemical solvents, but would need to be careful of potential asbestos? Then new floor goes on the existing plywood underlayment.
- Remove ALL of it, inc plywood underlayment, and add new underlayment + new floor. This seems most challenging because it would require removal of all the staples in the underlayment, and then getting new UL in there
A particular challenge will be dealing with the drain pipe you can see in the photos - it doesn't look to me like it'd be possible to disconnect without cutting it. I can lift it up 1/4" or so, which would give me enough room to work at getting out the existing vinyl, but would especially make installing new UL a total bear. That's why I lean toward option #2.
Would love to hear opinions from anyone experienced with this type of project, thanks!
