Vinyl Sheet Floor Bidding / Advice

socialgen

Hi guys,

curious what people would bid or are curently bidding for laying sheet vinyl floors. I have a potential customer who wants two bathrooms done. They currently have crappy textured vinyl tiles on one and old sheet vinyl on the other now. There are a couple of odd corners around cabinets and walls. I would be salvaging the baseboard most likely. The bathrooms are 6 x 12 and 6 x 8. There are no pipes through the floor, only a toilet in each to remove.

I'm fairly new at this. Laid it a couple times in simple square rooms, but any advice on how to bid for it, installation tips, or the best floor float to use over the old textured vinyl that I would be laying the new on would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot. Glad I found this forum. Glad it's here.

Floorwizard

First off, you need to find out EXACTLY what is existing.
one sheet existing?
what is the underlayment?
cove base or wood molding?
standard toilet?


Let me know those things and I will walk you thru it

__________________
------------------------
"in 20 years you will regret more what you did not do than what you did"

socialgen

Well, my biggest question is wether people are charging by the square foot for the laying and if so at what going rate. I was simply considering charging an hourly rate for prep such as removal of the oak baseboards, toilet and possibly for floor float if that is possible.

As far as how many existing layers I know that there are at least two layers and I suspect them to be on the subfloor. The floor seems solid. Now that you mention it, I should check closer to see if there is an underlayment that could be easily pulled up? I was simply expecting to be able to float the existing floors so the texture doesn't telegraph through and then place the new floor over those? Is this not a good idea?

Floorwizard

Do not lay over 2 layers.
Tear up the underlay and vinyl at the same time. Charge around 48 bucks an hour for each 4x4 underlay you tear up. Charge 50 to remove and replace toilet. @ bucks a foot for r and r baseboards. a buck a square foot for installing new underlay, and a buck a square foot for vinyl install.
Who is buying the supplies? You will need to add supplies to the list if you are buying them. Leveler, underlay, glue, toilet flange...ect..ect..
These prices are only suggestions, I have no clue what the rates are for your area.

__________________
------------------------
"in 20 years you will regret more what you did not do than what you did"

Don Benham

There is no "going rate" How long do you think it will take yo do right, How much $ do you need to earn in that time to run a profotable business.

If you figure wrong, you'll get it right next time.

Don

socialgen

Thanks. That helps.

socialgen

I guess I'm not done with this one. I thought I figured out the reason why not to lay over two sheets of existing floor, but really what can be so different about laying over one layer or two? sure, I guess you have twice as much chance of some part of the underlaying floors going bad first. Is there something more to it? Will it really compromise the integrity of the final layer, especially if a thick loose lay floor is placed over the newly embossed two layers? It seems, (In theory ) that if the loose lay is less prone to telegraph then if one of the lower layers loosened some it wouldn't be much of a big deal since the upper isn't attached to it anyway.

Don Benham

What you have is a layer of soft material(the existing vinyl) sandwiched between two hard layers(the luaunn). You staple another layer on top of that and you risk alot of movement causing staples to back out.

I've never liked embossing. I know it's accepted but to me it's not worth it. If you do decide to go this route, use Ardex. Nothing tops it.

Also, every floor you add raises the toilet. Sometimes this isn't a problem but if it has hard supply line you might have trouble re-connecting. I've had to buy many a new flex line after the toilet leaks when I rehook it.

Do your client (and yourself) a favor and take up the old, install high quality subfloor and go from there.

Have you ever pattern-scribed? Makes those cramped layout easier.

Good luck
Don

socialgen

Ok. I'm going to rip up the old floors. I do plan on making a pattern.

What I was theorizing though was not actually laying luan on top of the existing vinyl but a third layer of vinyl (Loose lay) on top of the embossed others. Since I was told the loose lay was thicker and does not telegraph, (Armstrong makes an entire loose lay where it only asks for double sided glass tape along the bathtub edge or under heavy appliances). I was trying to figure out in theory why this couldn't be done. I might be complicating things here, but the idea seems reasonable. Can you guys think of a reason why this sounds completly like shabby half-a work and shouldn't be done? I'm gonna rip up the floors cause that is the known and correct thing to do, but my thoughts are still out there on this.

Don Benham

I see what you're saying. I suppose in theory you could loose lay over what you have without telegraphing. I'm not familiar with the Armstrong you refer to with the glass tape. Maybe it's a DIY line they sell through HD? I believe nothing I hear at a big box.

The problems you leave open by covering the floor are moisture related. Many bathrooms have moisture under the existing vinyl. This will often present it's self to you through mold. But not always. The attachement shows a bathroom I did recently. You'll see the black spots(mold) are showing from the top. But you can see how big the stain is on the luaunn. It's is very possible that if those black spot were not present(which until recently they were'n't) the homeowner may have just covered it. In time the new floor would be ruined from an existing moisture problem.

The customer need to made to understand that if you save them money with less labor, the entire job could very well fail. You can still perimeter glue the floor if you want, but over new U-L

Good luck,
Don

Attached Thumbnails