Laying new laminate over old flooring - experiences?

Hello forum!

I have a really old apartment building here and am currently restoring a few rooms... the focus is on price AND performance, so I have to make some compromises...

The floor situation varies depending on the room, although the basic structure is always the same:

Hallway:

[*]Ancient floorboards from around 1900
[*]some kind of chipboard (presumably)
[*]carpet from the 60s on top
[*]laminate from the 90s on top (sits well, but unfortunately beech^^)

Room 1

[*]Ancient floorboards from around 1900
[*]some kind of chipboard (presumably)
[*]linoleum in this awful pattern (heavily glued, from the 90s)
[*]fully glued on top: PVC in ship floor plank look (probably around 2000)

Room 2

[*]Ancient floorboards from around 1900
[*]some kind of chipboard (presumably)
[*]linoleum in this awful pattern (heavily glued, from the 90s)

Room 3

[*]Ancient floorboards from around 1900
[*]some kind of chipboard (presumably)
[*]linoleum in this awful pattern (heavily glued, from the 90s)
[*]fully glued on top: PVC in ship floor plank look (probably around 2000)

Removing both the linoleum and the PVC is out of the question for now, since I don’t have the tools or the budget to redo the entire floor structure. Removal would only be possible with associated destruction.

So the plan is to lay new laminate on the existing floor.

Following questions:

Is it absolutely necessary to lay an impact sound insulation over PVC or linoleum?
In the hallway, the floating laid beech laminate could theoretically be removed – then I could lay the new laminate directly on the carpet again.
What is more sensible here? Laminate on laminate or remove the old one and lay the new laminate on the carpet? Also the question whether an impact sound insulation should still be placed in between there...

Thanks :)

well, eventually the floor will reach the ceiling :)

Is it absolutely necessary to lay impact sound insulation on PVC or linoleum?

Impact sound insulation affects the rooms below. Without it, however, you will always hear a crunching sound when walking.

In the hallway, the floating beech laminate could theoretically be removed – then I could lay the new laminate directly on the carpet again. What is more sensible? Laminate on laminate or remove the old one and lay the new laminate on the carpet? Also the question of whether impact sound insulation should be added in between here as well...

Neither. Laminate on laminate is crap. Laminate on carpet is crap. Laminate on glued flooring is good. Laminate on raw floor is great. Impact sound insulation see previous answer.

Removing both the linoleum and PVC is initially out of the question since I have neither the tools nor the budget,

Tools ==> tool rental Budget ==> 50€ and an afternoon You’d rather shorten the doors if you keep raising the floor build-up?

well, eventually the floor reaches the ceiling :)

3.20m room height, there’s still some room ;)

Impact sound affects the rooms below. Without insulation, you will always hear a crunching noise while walking.

Neither. Laminate on laminate is crap. Laminate on carpet is crap. Laminate on glued floor is good. Laminate on raw floor is great.
Impact sound see answer above.

Tools ==> tool rental
Budget ==> 50€ and an afternoon
You’d rather shorten the doors if you always raise the floor build-up?

Thanks a lot for the info! Phew, that sounds very easy, but I’m afraid the effort is much greater.

Here are my thoughts on this, please correct me if I’m wrong:

I would cautiously say that the existing floor needs to be removed with such a milling machine (100sqm) – afterward, probably no usable subfloor remains. So leveling compound needed. Possibly plus OSB boards.

In all rooms except the hallway there are unfortunately channels at the wall where the heating pipes run. The current floor is installed in front of them... Those would also have to be renewed – about 1m at roughly 14€.
The channels are glued to the wall junction with the textured wallpaper.

Next problem: the textured wallpaper only covers the top layer up to the top edge of the baseboards or heating channel.
There it’s also glued with mounting adhesive and silicone.
If I lower the floor now, I need significantly higher baseboards/heating channels to hide it.

All doors open into the hallway – there would be laminate on carpet there, which can be easily removed.
Is laminate on laminate more stable with the carpet underneath? The hallway feels rather soft underfoot right now... laminate lies flat though, no wobbling or the like.

I will also replace the door leaves, as they have been chewed by the dog – I have to shorten each one anyway, as they are all different heights. Frames are partially installed flush, etc.

I fully realize that a hard cut with a new floor build-up, wall, etc., would be the clean solution... 80/20 principle and all that ;)