Hi, I am thinking about placing vinyl wood planks over the existing ceramic tile in my house and I wanted to know if it‘s possible. The tile isn‘t completely level due to the grout and obviously not all the tiles are exactly the same height down to the millimeter. I wanted to know 1. Is it possible to install vinyl wood plank over ceramic tile, 2. If so how level the tile floor has to be, 3. How would I go about leveling the floor, with an underlayment or with some sort of mortar, 4. If I use an underlayment do I still need to use the mortar to level the tile?Thank you.
I would not lay vinyl over ceramic tile, especially if the tile isn't even. It will wear the tile out faster, and the tile won't look good over any surface that is not level. Remove the tile, then lay down some 1/2 underlayment plywood--or once the tile is removed, (and all the grout) and the floor is revealed, you may be able to lay the vinyl down over what's underneath. You can't put underlayment over the tile either because it has to be nailed down, and that extra layer will add nearly an inch to your floor--making any transition to other rooms uneven.
While its always best to remove the tile and start with a fresh base for a new sub floor for the vinyl tile. This can be done .. You need to go over the tile with whats called an embossing leveler.. This will allow the vinyl to not show the grout lines. The high spots can be knocked down or floated so its barely noticeable. . By the time you do all this and the chance that you don t get any uneven tile floated out, your better off taking every thing out and do it proper. Any questions you can e mail me through my avatar. GL
