Many of the vinyl tiles in our parents' kitchen floor (house built in 1956) are worn, and under the refrigerator we discovered many loose and warped tiles (the previous fridge probably leaked), which were easy to pull up so we could see what we're dealing with. We seem to have a top layer of vinyl tiles probably from the '80s, then a layer of tiles from about 1970, then there seems to be felt paper (blue on top, black on bottom), then plywood underlayment. The plywood directly under the fridge doesn't seem to be in good shape, but looking up from the basement, the subfloor of wood slats mounted diagonally on the joists seems OK.

Originally, we thought about stripping the floor, but since there could be asbestos in the older tiles, now we're thinking of just patching what we have and covering the whole thing. First, we have to strip enough to make sure we replace any bad plywood, right? After that, would we use embossing leveler to patch the worn tiles? Could the leveler also raise the area where we replace plywood up to the level of the rest of the floor? We already have two layers of vinyl tile. Can it take a 3rd layer or would we be better off doing something else? Other than under the fridge, the old tiles seem to be flat and attached well. We don't want to raise the floor too much more but vinyl is thin. We also don't want to spend too much, since the house will be for sale next year and new owners would probably want to modernize the kitchen.

All suggestions welcome. Thanks.