Short answer: yes, usually — with conditions. LVP (luxury vinyl plank) is a floating floor, which means it doesn’t get glued or nailed down. It just needs a flat, clean, stable surface underneath it. That means in a lot of houses around the Treasure Valley, the old floor can stay right where it is and the new floor goes on top. But “usually” is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and the exceptions are where people get burned.
The one rule that decides everything: flatness
LVP doesn’t care much about what’s underneath it. It cares about flat. The locking joints that click the planks together are the weak point — if the floor underneath has a dip or a hump, the planks flex every time you walk across it, the locks stress, and eventually they separate or crack. The standard is no more than 1/8-inch of variation over a 6-foot span. That’s flatter than most people think. A tile floor with lippage, a concrete slab with a hump, or old vinyl with a bubble in it can all fail that test.
So before anything else, the floor gets checked with a long straightedge. If it’s flat, you’re in business. If it’s not, the fix is leveling compound or grinding — or tearing the old floor out after all.
What LVP can go over
Tile. Yes, if the tile is flat, solid, and the grout lines aren’t deep. Tile that’s cracked, hollow, or popping loose has to be dealt with first — LVP over loose tile is LVP over a moving floor. Wide or deep grout lines usually need a skim coat of leveling compound so the tile pattern doesn’t telegraph through the vinyl over time. It’s an extra step and it’s worth it.
Sheet vinyl and glued-down vinyl. Yes, if it’s well-adhered, level, and clean. One layer only — LVP over two layers of old vinyl is asking for trouble, and any cushion-backed vinyl has to come out because it’s too soft underneath a floating floor.
Concrete slab. Yes, and this is the most common install in Treasure Valley homes — most houses here are built on slabs. The slab needs to be flat, dry, and clean. Moisture is the thing to check (more on that in the waterproofing post), but a dry slab is a great base for LVP.
Laminate. Usually yes, if it’s flat and tight. Laminate that’s buckling or has swollen edges from water needs to come out first.
What LVP should not go over
Hardwood. This is the one people argue about, and the argument gets heated online for a reason. Technically you can click LVP together over a hardwood floor. Practically, it’s a bad idea in most cases. LVP clicked together forms a pretty good vapor barrier on top of the wood. Any moisture — from the slab below, from a spill that finds a seam, from humidity — gets trapped between the LVP and the hardwood with nowhere to go. The hardwood underneath can cup, buckle, or grow mold, and you won’t know until you pull the LVP up. And once hardwood has been covered and damaged by trapped moisture, it often can’t just be refinished — the damage goes deeper than the surface. If you have hardwood you like, refinish it. If you have hardwood you don’t like, tear it out. Covering it with LVP is the worst of both.
Carpet. No. Carpet is soft, it compresses unevenly, and the LVP locks will fail. Carpet and pad always come out.
Anything uneven, loose, or damaged. This is the catch-all. LVP is forgiving about what the old floor is made of and unforgiving about what shape it’s in.
The height problem nobody thinks about
Adding a floor on top of a floor raises the finished height — usually about a quarter inch for the LVP plus underlayment, more if there’s a skim coat underneath. That quarter inch shows up in real places: doors that used to clear the floor now drag, baseboards sit too low and leave a gap at the bottom, transitions to the next room become a trip edge, and dishwasher or fridge clearances in a kitchen get tight. None of this is a dealbreaker, but it all needs to be planned for — doors get trimmed, baseboards get reset or replaced, transitions get a proper reducer. A bid that doesn’t mention any of this is a bid from someone who hasn’t thought it through.
When tearing out is the right call
Sometimes the honest answer is to take the old floor out. If the old floor is damaged, uneven, or the wrong material underneath, floating LVP over it just moves the problem up one layer and charges you for the privilege. Tearing out also lets us see the subfloor or slab underneath — and around here, that’s where the surprises live: cracked slabs, old water damage, uneven pours from the original build. Finding that before the new floor goes down is a lot cheaper than finding it after.
Cost-wise, tear-out adds labor and disposal to the job, but it also means the new floor goes on a surface we know is right. LVP installed runs $5–9 per square foot all-in with us, labor-only $2–3, with a $650 minimum — and we’ll tell you straight at the estimate whether your old floor can stay or needs to go, and what each option costs. No guessing.
How to decide
Walk the floor. If it’s flat, solid, and dry, LVP over the top is a smart way to save demo cost and mess. If it’s cracked, loose, uneven, or hardwood you care about, take it out. And if you’re not sure, that’s what the estimate is for — we’ll put a straightedge on it, check the moisture, and tell you which way makes sense for your house. Not every floor is a candidate, and any installer who says yes before looking hasn’t looked.
Get a straight answer for your floor
Call (986) 273-5409 or run your numbers through our flooring cost calculator first. We’ll come measure free anywhere in Boise, Nampa, Meridian, Eagle, Star, Kuna, Caldwell, Middleton, and Garden City — check what’s under your floor, tell you whether it can stay or needs to come out, and give you a written price either way.
Boise Home Flooring — the interior division of Boise Epoxy Flooring Co. (BEFCO), based in Nampa. 18 years in the trades. LVP, laminate, hardwood, tile, and trim.