Carpets, Lino & Flooring

How to rectify a strange 2 level kitchen floor so vinyl can be put down?

Anonymous user 05/03/2026 - 11.22 AM

Just moved in and have had to remove warped laminate flooring from the kitchen only to find that the thick chipboard used underneath is completely rotten due to a long term water leak. When that was cleared away discovered the floor is two different levels by approx 25mm! The majority of the floor is the lower level. Then there is a area inside the doorway of the room which appears to be concrete(?) and have cables running through which is approx 25mm higher (and matches the floor height in the rest of the flat). The lower flooring level has some sort of thin lino tiling stuck down with black rubber looking adhesive onto a concrete floor (I would say thats original as building late 60s/early 70s). I had brought vinyl to replace the laminate, but only enough that it would have fitted to about 15cm beyond the plinths/kickboards. Can anyone please help me out with advice on what to do, what materials would be best etc. So far I managed to clear out the rotten chipboard without having to take out any of the kitchen cabinets, I really want to avoid that if possible. Economy solutions would be even better if anyone has any tips. Thank you 😁

Anonymous user

Hello there At all costs I wouldn’t touch those really old tiles in their current state they are okay but if you start lifting them you risk potentially exposing yourself to asbestos. If you say that there is a concrete subfloor with a 25mm height difference then you will need a fibre reinforced smoothing compound as a rough estimate one bag of smoothing compound will cover 5m2 at a 3mm thickness so you will need to do the maths on how much you will need to raise the floor 25mm. If the chipboards have been replaced and there are no edges sitting slightly higher then your vinyl floor should be ready to install in the kitchen if not then a 5.5mm sp101 plywood can give you a subfloor fit for purpose you shouldn’t need to take the kitchen out for this.

Answered20 February 2026

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MultiTradeMasters

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Slough

Hello 👋 ​The advice regarding the 1960s tiles is spot on; they often contain asbestos and are safest left undisturbed and encapsulated. To bridge a 25mm height difference without removing the kitchen cabinets, you have two professional options: ​Option 1: The Screed Approach As mentioned, a fiber-reinforced smoothing compound is excellent, but at 25mm, you are essentially "pouring a new floor". You must prime the old tiles with a specialist neoprene primer first to ensure the compound bonds to the non-porous surface. ​Option 2: The Timber Approach (Economy Solution) Since you already have a 25mm void where the rotten chipboard was, you can replace it with 22mm P5 moisture-resistant chipboard or 18mm Exterior Grade Plywood combined with a 6mm SP101 flooring plywood overlay. This gets you to 24-25mm quickly and dryly. Since you want to avoid moving cabinets, you can "dead-stop" the new timber subfloor against the cabinet legs/plinths and use a matching threshold strip at the doorway to transition the levels. ​Multitrademasters

Answered5 March 2026

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