No. Sometimes the carpet is difficult to completely remove and you may have a stubborn nail or staple that breaks off and can’t be fully removed from the subfloor. Vinyl plank flooring has a bit of flexibility built into its thickness such that it can absorb some small imperfections in the subfloor. So you can even leave the old, think laminate flooring as we did in our bathroom, and the new vinyl flooring will go right over it in an easy install.