Plank Vinyl Over Existing (Vinyl?) Tile (flooring, paint, asbestos, glue)

[Shutout]

I have a 300 square foot section of the basement. It was previously done with some thin tiles (like you would see in a cafeteria maybe). A lot of these tiles are missing or cracked. The remaining ones are glued down.

My question is, is it possible to lay Plank Vinyl Flooring right over this, even though there are some random missing tiles?

Also, the reason we are leaning towards plank vinyl is because the basement flooded once (sump pump stopped working).. so just in case it happens again, this wouldn't ruin the floor.

[mrviking]

Always best to remove the old floor but if you can get some open boxes or broken tiles from the big box store and fill in the missing areas. Now you should get a skim coating designed for laying over VCT tiles. They should have them in the Big box store. Chances are if the vinyl planks sit in water too long they will lift in spots, Better chance if you remove the old floor.

[old_cold]

Vinyl, whether planks or sheet goods, needs a solid smooth surface .

[Shutout]

Alright, so finally getting around to this now that the basement is painted.

The tiles look like they might be Asbestos tiles, so I would prefer to leave them and go over them with the Floating Vinyl Plank. So I will not be removing them.

What is the best method to fill in the missing gaps? MrViking you mentioned cardboard (which wouldn't really be level from the missing tile to the cardboard?), as well as some sort of skim coat. Any ideas on what type of skim coat would work for these? And should I use it for patching holes/missing tiles alone or will I need to go over all the tiles, too?