smittenbritt

First off sorry about the long post.

So we bought a 1939 house from a flipper I guess you would call him. He didn't do much with the house as he'd like to think. Just finished and dressed up the previous owners doings.
Well they must have really liked travertine because it's throughout the 1062sft house bar one bedroom. Its in both bathrooms and the livingroom and kitchen. The hallway and two of the bedrooms also have it. The two bathrooms have their own travertine designs and are not an issue. One bathroom was finished/done by flipper and the other still in good condition. The rest of the house however is the same large tile flowing into each other with no breaks in door ways and it's in a very sorry state. It's perpetually filthy no matter how many times we clean it, broken, chipped and loose in every room. The flipper used normal plaster to fill in chips (large ones at that) with blended in with the colour of the tile. Of course now it all coming off from being stepped on and we can see what he did. We never thought to have it cleaned and sealed when we moved it and it would be too difficult now. And we have a 10mo baby who has already fallen on it. I just hate the stuff. The one room we may still be able to do something about the tile is in our baby's room that's still being decorated. I was going to buy foam matting to cover the filthy broken tile. Thinking it would be cheap and softer on her body and head than a berber rug over it and would cover it more to combat the constant plaster and grout pieces. But my father in law recently had laminate installed and has a lot left over. He's offered it to us for free. It would mean ordering a little extra to cover the entire 10 x 9 room but we are considering it. However we also have to taken into account time, cost and inconvenience (less dust the better with baby in the house). My husband is considering laying it top of the tile and not ripping the tile up as he thinks it would be the cheapest and easiest option. However I just googled doing that and read about needing a level smooth floor and no holes with a type of underlay. It also said it not a smooth level surface then we would need to use plywood under-layer? The tile in her room is so bad one tile is completely loose and rocks. But if we have to put plywood, then the matting then laminate that the level difference between her bedroom floor and rest of house would be silly. What do you guys think? Do you think it sounds like would have to fix the floor before we do laminate? Would we need to put the plywood down anyway because if the chips? Would it be expensive to have a professional come and rip it up and put the laminate down and would it take long and be that dusty?


Thanks for reading my warble.

CallMeVilla

Your impulse is very workable. You will need to install a vapor barrier that comes with the laminate. This is both a cushoin and a barrier. There are many manufacturers with different systems. Most are the click-and-go style that do not require glue or nails.

You will need a quality power miter saw, mallets and the ability to read instructions.

You biggest difficult will be removing the existing baseboard and replacing it after the laminate in installed. Also, the transition at the doorway(s) will be tricky. There are specialized transition strips which would normally require nailing . . . you will not be nailing into the travertine. You will probably be using the strongest construction adhesive (PL Premium) you can find to glue the transition to the laminate at the doorway(s). You may also have to cut the bottoms of the doors if the added elevation from the laminate makes them impossible to swing.

There are many DIY sites with advice on installation. Here is one that is helpful to the first-timer:
http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-install-laminate-flooring/index.html#step1

HAVE FUN.

smittenbritt

Thank you