the success of your installation will be directly dependent upon the stability of the surface (existing flooring material) you are installing over. the best way is to remove the existing flooring and start from scratch. laying over existing may be possible, but you need to remove any lose existing flooring and patch any voids with a good flooring grade patching compound like Ardex sd-f (featherfinish), sand/scrape and repeat until flat and smooth, but this is no guarantee against future issues as any failure of existing willresult in failure of the new flooring. If any of this confuses you, I recommend consulting a flooring professional to take a look at your exisitng flooring and ask for recommendations.

Amen, Glenn. I started when I was 12 helping Dad on weekends and evenings when Mom worked. At 15, I helped during evening weekends, and summer vacations (and getting paid!) when he went out on his own. At 17, I went to the Armstong School of Resilient Installation to learn all that I could, which was before certifications. They confirmed shool completions back then but didnt "certify" as they do now. All my life I have been taught on the job and Dad pulled me aside when other co-workers and his bosses did things inappropriately to save time and cut corners, telling me this isnt the way you should do this, but we do what we have to when we work for someone else. Every facet from pattern scribing inlaid resilient sheet in a room full of pipes and old radiators, all the way down to professionally and expertly installing vinyl/rubber cover base corners. Nothing was too big or too small to do right. At 21, me and Dad had a falling out in business. He had his own busienss now doign commercial and residential subcontract work and was becomming like so many others we laughed at and despised for doing shoddy work to make a buck, then I went out on my own. I am not maligning my Father. I love Him and he taught me pretty much evrything I know, but I couldnt do the work he was asking me to do anylonger when I knew it wasnt right. He had changed. Business had changed him. Money and time was becomming more important that job quality. Business certainly isnt easy, but a time comes when it's either right or its wrong, with little middle ground. Whhen professionals hit that crossroad, then take the wrong path, it changes them, and each time they elect that improper path, it makes the next crossroads easier and easier to take the wrong path, until the day comes that money and time means more than giving people who trust use with their work a professional job. I am an advocate of installer and buiness educataion no matter how they go about obtaining it, whether that be on the job, through a mentorship, union apprentiship, manufacturer or distributor training session, or certification. If certifications are the only way they can get proper training, they shoud go get it. Consumers need to step up and make a fuss when anything isnt exactly how they want it to be. We live in a low cost wallmart and home depot world, where as long as the price is right, they can live with almost anything. As an employer, I instill in my men and women the same installation and customer service values my Dad originally instilled in me, and I demand that on every job. I believe much of the talent has moved to the commercial spectrum too. Its where the money is at. Interesting you should say that (about commercial work getting the good men). When I left Dad, I went all commercial for about 10-11 years before we started opening up stores. Did alot of traveling and made alot of money. Now we bring those values and quality to the residential sector. In the end if something isnt done right, it doesnt matter why.

You new installation will only ever be as good as what is there now. If you are willing to take that chance, then following the above advice should be sufficient. Additionally, if you do not have an voids to fill, instead of patching you can use a liquid primer to facillitate a good bond if the existing tile is asbestos. It its not asbestos, you want to scarify (rough up) the surface with a heavy grit sandpaper to facillitate bond. If there is any wax coating on the existing tile, that wax should be stripped before scarification, patching, priming, or installing new tile.

The first house I lived in was on the Salt River Indian Reservation in AZ, just a wooden cottage raised up on concrete footings. Some years later - my Mom and Dad bought a brand new rancher in Phoenix- this was late 50's when the 6 story Westward Ho Hotel was the tallest building in Phoenix. Our house, as most were in the area, was a pink cinderblock built on a polished concrete slab. No two story homes or basements. The older areas had a few 2 story homes but that wasnt the norm,that was old Phoenix money or the Wrigleys! We had vinyl tile, popcorn ceilings and wool avocado wall to wall in the living room.Later shag rugs in the bedrooms!( pink and red for me!) When I was a teen we had a decorator that chose traditional furniture with a mediterranean Spanish flair and used pecan wood tables.All of the windows had WTs that would keep the sun out. Some people used to foil over their windows.I never heard of a roller shade until we moved back east to MD. Also never encountered stairs, except in the old Montgomery Ward store which was a story and a half balcony! I think we leaned traditional with a Spanish flair because my Mom grew up in a huge Victorian with land in the Maryland countryside and my Dad grew up in a big house in Mass,in a clapboard center hall colonial. I still live in MD in a small colonial revival house built in 1923. My taste has changed from Colonial Williamsburg to "cottage whatever". I think it is more comfy for us. and vintage thrift stuff mixes well with family pieces -the real colonial antiques and the victorian antiques. My neighborhood is mostly colonial revivals, quite a few Queen Anne Victorians as well as some gothic victorians. There are also quite a few 4 squares. Most all of the houses were built in the 20s with a few in the 1880s. Traditional decor seems to be the norm and seems to be age related- Potterybarn-esque for the younger crowd to Wiiliamsburg traditional and a couple -make- you -gulp Victorians( and not in a good way) Unfortunately the trend here in the last 10 years has been huge great room add ons- so you have many houses built in late 1880s early 20's with monstrous things sticking out the back. Definitely not in keeping with the vintage of the house. Inside, these rooms are beautiful but lack the charm that is found in the rest of the house.Crossing into the great room is like entering another country, one that has little to do with the rest of the house.Looks like they all use the same floorplan. Predictible. Talk about stereotypes, Aunt Jane and Lynne no offense, but when I was growing up, to us Arizonians ya'll were Easterners to us! Bit of snobs we were. Still am as far as Mexican food! LOL I equate the Kokopelli Southwestern style of decor with the big hair of the 80s! Never saw any of it growing up in AZ, just in the East and thought who are they fooling with that fake stuff?