Kitty

We'll be updating our kitchen from vinyl flooring to ceramic tile. Do we really need to pull up the vinyl flooring? Can we just lay the tile over the top of the vinyl?

BTW - Great site!

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Kitty

glennjanie

Welcome to the Forum Kitty;
I would not lay ceramic tile over vinyl for several reasons;
1. it won't stick and your tile will be comming up in several places
2. the vinyl is ever-so-lightly spongy which will break the grout lines
3. we don't know what the former owner covered up with the vinyl
4. stripping to the subfloor and starting back with cementious board will give
a lasting, proven backing for the tile.
5. If you do the whole thing by the numbers you will have a job you can be
proud of.
I'm sure I will think of some other reasons by tomorrow but, for now, you have enough bad news to deal with. Let us know how it turns out and post some picutres if possible.
Glenn

TileGuy

Tiling over vinyl is a huge "no no".
If you use unmodified thinset under the CBU and use screws rather then nails... I doubt youll ever have a problem in this life time. If it were my house...Id pull it up. BUT, if it was asbestos I would leave it and CBU over it and still never have a worry.
Find out if its asbestos and if it is either have someone remove it for ya or lay your cement board over it and use screws.

Kitty

Thanks everyone!

We built this house 15 years ago so I'm sure their isn't asbestos in the floor, and I know it's plywood underneath. We're a huge believer in doing a job right the first time, so we'll rip up the vinyl. I hadn't thought of laying the CBU over the vinyl... That would definitely save a lot of time and mess.

We're picking out carpet for the adjoining rooms tonight, so we'll be able to make a final decision about the tile soon.

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Kitty

Bud Cline

For the benefit of Kitty (hope she returns) and the well being of her tile project and with the indulgence of the tile pros that are here Please let me offer this information on this subject:

http://www.thefloorpro.com/articles/tile_over_vinyl_flooring.php

Kitty

Thanks Bud! I guess we'll be ripping up the vinyl for sure.

Ugh. This job is gonna suck.

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Kitty

Bud Cline

The vinyl itself isn't always necessarily the main problem. It's the 1/4" underlayment under the vinyl that is the real troublemaker. Check it out.

TileGuy

The majority of vinyl tear outs that Ive done turned out to be simple. I always dread doing them because of the possible headache it can be but it usually goes well. Good luck and lets us know how it goes.

Kitty

We pulled up the carpet that butts up against the vinyl flooring and confirmed there is a 1/4" hardboard underneath. There isn't plywood underneath that, I guess it's the "large chunk" particle board.

Are you saying we need to rip up the 1/4" hardboard? Is that particle board stuff ok, or do we have to replace that too?

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Kitty

TileGuy

Replace it Post a pic if you can

1/4 inch sub isnt enough for tile, 3/4 is the right way to go about it.