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Remodeling Flooring Bathrooms

Please help me identify this underlayment

last year

I am redoing our bathroom soon. The current floor is linoleum ( i think from the 80s). I took up a piece from it and cant identify what is underneath. Please let me know if youve seen this before.

Featured Answer

Nancy in Mich

last year

The older floor looks like some kind of terrazzo. Your current old floor is vinyl, not Linoleum. I know we use the word for all sheet flooring or soft tiles at times, but REAL Linoleum still exists. It is made from real cork, wood waste, pigments, and linseed oil. Due to price, it is a bit of an upscale choice. It has a naturally matte finish, is naturally anti-static and anti-bacterial.

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Comments (9)

Irene Buchanan
Original Author
last year
Thank you! It looks like you are right. I tore off the bottom of the vanity and it revealed a stamp like this. I would guess its sheet vinyl from the 60s. And the previous owner told me linoleum but good to know the difference!
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User
last year
Test for asbestos.
Irene Buchanan thanked User
kj s
last year
Test for asbestos. We just had to have abatement for our original vinyl floors.
Irene Buchanan thanked kj s
Irene Buchanan
Original Author
last year
Thank you im looking into that now. Did they replace your sub flooring as well?
kj s
last year
A water leak led to the vinyl removal. The water remediation people tested for as

bestos and found it positive. I had no idea it was related to vinyl flooring. We are removing some of the subfloor- but only due to the water damage.
Circus Peanut
last year
Looks like some form of terrazzo, which was very popular in the 40's - 70's. What was used to create it may differ -- rock chips, tile chips, marble chips, etc -- and depending on what they used, it might be a bit of hard labor to remove -- it's embedded in concrete-like filler. You have to get power tools in there to essentially chip up that layer of cemented-on substance.

Might as well get rid of all of it once they're in there with the tools and mess -- that will allow you to replace the subfloor and have a broad choice of what you use for a new flooring. Best of luck!
Irene Buchanan thanked Circus Peanut
Timothy Winzell
last year
The top floor is a vinyl tile with a no-wax surface, which looks like it's laid over an embossed vinyl composition tile. The product under the vanity is Armstrong Corlon sheet vinyl, which does look like terrazzo. The other two are tiles that could very well be peel and stick. All three may have asbestos so look up proper precautions to be taken during removal.
Irene Buchanan thanked Timothy Winzell
3onthetree
last year
If you have a wood framed structure, then the original Corlon would probably have an underlayment board (and there could even be another layer of flooring under that, as the brand Corlon is from 1950s-current). That all should be removed down to your subfloor ("subfloor" is the structural floor sheathing attached directly to your floor joists). If you can get under the underlayment, say at the door or toilet, you might be able to bring it all up (leaving the 12x12 peel and stick on top) at once and not even disturb the sheet vinyl.
Irene Buchanan thanked 3onthetree

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