You bought new flooring for your home. You are excited about how the room will look. You have a limited budget, so you plan to install the new surface yourself. Carpet and carpet padding can be removed from the subfloor or subfloor, rolled up, and taken to the curb or landfill. Tile or vinyl can be removed and ordered from the subfloor, loaded into a trash can, and taken out as well. But what then? Is that all there is to prepare for the installation? Unfortunately, the answer is no. If all you had to do was line it up, plug it in, and clamp it down, there would be far fewer contractors out there making a living. The main step in any replacement is to first remove the old material and defects.

The key to a beautiful and durable floor is not above the surface but below it. Laying new tiles is quite time consuming without having to replace them again in a few years, because the subfloor or slab was not properly prepared and cracks, slips or breaks in the material have wasted time, effort and money.

The surface that receives the new material must be clean and absolutely smooth. Even small grains of dirt or sand can break a seal or connection, as well as create gaps and bumps that stress the new material. If you are laying tiles, for example, over old, worn hardwood planks, make sure the seams between the planks are sealed flush; nails and screws are sunk below the surface of the wood and filled with a wood-filling compound, and the boards themselves are leveled, sanded well, and thoroughly cleaned, including washing, not just sweeping or the dust Also, make sure the receiving surface is completely dry; allow enough time to air dry before placing a new surface on top.

Areas of caution include slab subfloors, walls, and doorways.

Slabs require additional waterproofing protection before new flooring is laid on top. Most contractors automatically place a material on top of the slab between the concrete and the new material to allow any moisture that passes through the slab to evaporate before sticking to the underside of the new material.

Especially in older homes, vinyl and linoleum tiles were laid under the edges of the walls and cabinets. Removing that layer can destabilize the structure and should be avoided. Instead, cut the old tile or linoleum as close to the supporting edge as possible; if the material is soft enough, carefully angle a retractable blade down and in to cut the material under the edge, but leave the remaining flooring material in place. Gently slide the new flooring just under the edge of the framing to begin the installation. Some experts recommend not using glue on the first half inch of new flooring material so it can be removed the next time the material is replaced, but always leave the original under the bulk structure.

When replacing flooring in the entryway, special challenges arise. Since the door frame is set into the framing of the wall, the new wood, tile, or carpet must allow the door to open and close completely, or problems will arise. You must either replace the subfloor or rebuild the subfloor to allow for proper clearance and depth. If that’s not possible, trimming the bottom of the door if possible is the next option. If you have a metal door, you may need to remove the entire door frame and adjust the opening to allow for more floor clearance, depending on the flooring material you’ve chosen.

If you choose to raise the door frame, you may want to install a support post under the house or reinforce the frame of the house. Stresses and tolerances are determined for the original frame configuration, and adjusting the height of a doorway can degrade stability without additional support.