I am not a flooring expert, but when I asked the same question to the flooring company, he explained that removing existing flooring is very labour intensive, and the cost of labour is expensive.

For example, when we recently installed new flooring, labour cost was half of the total bill, and it took a team of four men an entire 40-hour workweek to complete the job without removing the existing floor, except for pulling up carpet.

Also, most vinyl sheet flooring is glued down, and pulling it up can damage the sub-floor, which then needs to be repaired or replaced, adding material and labour cost to the bill.

You can ask another flooring expert for an estimate; many will remove the existing flooring, but be prepared that it will add anywhere from $4-8 dollars per square foot to the estimate.

In older houses, there may be asbestos in the subfloor so to my knowledge, it cannot be removed without special equipment and specially trained people.

Shaving a cabinet is likely much less expensive than removing the current flooring.

We floated the new flooring over the existing, and it turned out wonderful. The bottoms of two interior doors had to be slightly sanded so that they did not drag on the slightly raised floors, but this was an easy 15-minute job.

Hope this helps with your questions.

Mine is only the kitchen so not a big deal I would not think. Shaving a cabinet is pretty awful looking in my opinion. My house is not old enough for asbestos, so that is not a concern. If installers simply no longer do this (they surely used to), then I expect I will be doing it myself. I would never pay someone such a ridiculous amount to pull up vinyl. I really don't see how it can be that hard. Guess I will find out!

https://www.thespruce.com/tools-to-remove-sheet-vinyl-flooring-1822807

Just found that^^. Yea I can do that. No problem.

I just pulled up carpet in a bedroom and found glued down vinyl tiles underneath. I removed them with a handheld scraper with a razor blade edge and then used Citrasolv to remove the adhesive. It took me all day, but it all came up. I have a concrete subfloor, though.

When I pulled up the floating laminate in the entryway, I discovered that the installers just laid it on top of old thinset rather than removing it first. It didn't seem to have any negative effects on the laminate, but I do have to remove it myself now. Would have been nice if they had done it as part of their job ...

Chess, try Citrasolv on the glue. It worked great and no fumes, just a pleasant orange scent.

Definitely remove it, or insist it be removed. We just pulled up two layers of 500 sq. ft. of sheet vinyl. It was gross underneath. Mold in a few spots and stank. We used a floor scraper that has a blade on the end to get up the glue. Definitely labor involved, but not hard to do at all. We are on a concrete slab and no concerns about asbestos as our house is only 10 years old.

What type of flooring are you putting down? And when you say that you're fridge is already at its maximum height, do you mean the feet are already screwed all the way in? Hopefully you know what I mean.

@Chess...the installer will do whatever you want to pay for. If you need/want the old floor to come out, then tell them that is what you expect and that you will pay for the service. Once you let them know that you realize there is an extra cost - and you are fine with paying it - the installers will offer to remove the old floor to put down the new one.

You have just discovered what happens when a critical mass of people (ie. your neighbors) are "gun shy" about paying for renovation costs. There are SOOOO many installers who are tired of losing jobs because their quotes were more than the client expected - ie. they planned on removing the subfloor/old floor and replace with new.

It looks like you are someone who recognizes that "extra" must be done to get this to work (old floors come out - fridge won't fit other wise). So go ahead and explain that to the installers. The response you got AFTER you explained the fridge issue is what I have a problem with.

Any installer worth their salt should recognize a client who is willing to do things properly because their situation dictates it. They should JUMP at the chance of an extra 1-2 days worth of pay. The fact that this person suggested shaving down the cabs is the single reason why I would walk away.

And remember: removal costs also include DUMPING costs (taking the old stuff to the dump and paying the fee for it). In my neck of the woods, old carpet is removed/disposed of for $1 - $1.50/sf. Old sheet vinyl that is easy to remove = just about the same price. If these are glue down vinyl tiles that are WELL adhered, then the price goes up.

Cancork Floor Inc., I am willing to pay, but not $4-8 a sf - hell that could be more that the whole dang install would cost - and that is ridiculous. It's just not that tough a job. (of course I say that having not done it yet LOL!) This guy was someone that has installed vinyl sheet for 30 years. The company is a local flooring retailer, that does all their own installation work. So yeah, I was actually very surprised at his response. And yes, I may have to walk away because of that. My vinyl is sheet - not tiles. As far as dumping, my BF has a truck. :-)

Sammy, I will be putting down either more sheet vinyl, or LVT. I don't know about other refrigerators, but mine does not have rear height adjustment. There are leveling legs on the front only, and those are set correctly for the door to close properly. I'd not lower the front as the door would tend to hang open. If I do wind up going with LVT, the adjustment in height would probably still be too much, in which case I guess I would have to purchase a small piece of new sheet vinyl to glue under it, and just deal with it. I sure am not buying a new fridge LOL!

If there are staples (I'll have to ask my BF - he removed the vinyl in the BR when he tiled it), then I will try to take up the underlayment and vinyl together - I found some info on doing that as well. And if I have to remove the staples, well, then I will. I'm not afraid of work that I am capable of doing. And I can do this. I don't have a time deadline like a lot of people.

Well great - the BF does not remember. :-/ He has a terrible memory about stuff like this. (But he can tell you the model and year of a car from down the road. OY!) Last night he pulled up just an edge of the vinyl, at the bottom of the stairs - and there is no underlayment there that we can see - only plywood. Sooooo, if they put the vinyl straight onto the plywood, (which means that the plywood must be pretty flat as my floor has no bumps or hills of any sort) I am hoping that this will make it easier for me to remove. Thoughts?

Go for it. The worst case scenario is you have to lay new plywood. Plywood is normally nailed or screwed down. That is much easier to remove than a thin, nasty top layer of luaun or some other bunk.

Of course this could be complicated if the person who put down the plywood was a DIYer who used glue. That makes for one HELL of a nightmare if you have to remove the top layer of plywood and some ding-dong used glue between the layers.

I would watch hours and hours and hours of youtube videos. Take extensive lecture notes while watching. Review your notes 3-4 times before you lift a floor scraper/heat gun.

Turn off the water to the dishwasher, remove the appliances and then start removing the old vinyl. Give yourself plenty of time. Lots and lots of time. You'll need lots of breaks and a swear jar....but other than that, this should be doable.

Remember to find out how to get rid of ALL the excess adhesive. That can often require some heavy scraping and a sander. Any excess adhesive left over will prevent the new product from being glued into place. So you need to remove 97% - 100% of the old glue. You don't have any height to play with so going over it with feathering compound is a no-no in your situation. That means you have to MECHANICALLY remove ALL the adhesive residue.

If you find you have more glue than you have time/energy, go ahead and remove the layer of plywood (hopefully there is a layer underneath....there are some really bright bulbs who think a single sheet of underlayment is "good enough") and drop in a new layer. It costs more money...but it can be faster.

If you go this route, please do NOT use glue between the sheets! It is killer on the next guy/reno. Just screw it down as per the screw-placement indicators and move on.

These floors are all original to the build of the house - no DIYer installs. By the way I already removed the vinyl under the dishwasher when we installed the new one - they had simply glued down an oversized piece of it into the space, sort of as a catch basin I guess - but it was super easy to take out. We replaced it with a similar sized piece of shower pan liner, so I don't plan on needing to do anything more there. Also under the range, there was no vinyl - only plywood - (the original range was a drop in) so I am not doing anything differently there either- unless I wind up going with a vinyl tile that has a substantial height difference. The only trick will be getting it out of the laundry room/pantry. I guess I will have to unhook and pull out the washer and dryer into the kitchen, ugh. Even worse will be emptying my pantry shelf unit and moving it out. (Honestly I would almost be tempted to replace that thing with a wire shelving unit - but my grandfather built it and I can't bring myself to toss it. :-/ )

As to the fridge - my BF looked at that last night too, and he thinks that unless I go with another sheet vinyl, we really will have to shave off the bottom of that cabinet. Crap. There is simply zero room for additional height - it is touching the cabinet now.

Hmmmm....I've seen some *bad installs (something that wouldn't be recommended for a professional to do...but a DIY homeowner is welcome to go with it) that have seen the fridge left in place, the floor CUT just in front of the feet (way underneath the darn thing) and then new floor installed upto the appliance.

This is not without problems. To remove the fridge you either have to dismantle the floor or remove the cabinets above. Sigh. Not a pretty option either way, but there are many homeowners who have done this to themselves because of height issues.

In fact the rental I'm in now has the dishwasher "bricked in". If that thing blows or needs servicing, then the counter top OR the floor has to be CUT and removed. Yikes.

It has been done before. I caution against it because of the future problems it creates...but as a quick fix it will work (quick fix = sell the house before anything happens to the appliances).

It sounds like the fridge is the biggest issue facing your project. I hope you can find a speed solution....I really do.

Oh no, I won't be doing anything awful like that. I've thought about it quite a bit, and I do think my best option will be to adjust the cabinet (take off a 1/4" or so - whatever is needed) if I go with a material with more height. I think it's better to do that, and carry the same material under the fridge, that to wind up with a fridge that is difficult to roll out. I like to do things right, and even though it means cutting the bottom edge of the cabinet, I'm pretty good with tools and wood and finishing...so I don't think it will be too big a deal now that I have thought it through. :-)

Cancork is right - glued down underlayment is horrible to remove. We just had some fun doing that where prior owner used vast quantities of glue and staples. Depending on where you live, actually disposing of the old material can be an unexpected expense. You may need to cut the material into small enough pieces to fit into a contractor bag or trash can.

Linda, I already stated that I don't think we have that. And disposing of any material is not an issue at all.