Can You Lay Vinyl Plank Flooring Over Ceramic Tile – All the supplies and steps you need to install vinyl plank flooring over old tile yourself, for a temporary fix.
Favorite project EVER! Well, I’d say about 50% of all the projects we do here, but this one is definitely up there in the charts of the most transformative for the least amount of money.
Can You Lay Vinyl Plank Flooring Over Ceramic Tile
If you’ve been following along with our major bathroom refresh, Robert and I painted the walls, trim, and cabinetry until last weekend. But the ceramic tile floor still looked like this:
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While we’ve saved the ceramic tile in our kitchen and hallway bathroom in the past with a grout pencil, this floor seemed a bit off. And since we’re sticking with the existing countertop and shower for now (until the actual gut/renovation), I wanted a floor that would modernize the 80’s beige a little better.
Except I wanted to avoid the tile and stencil painting that so many DIYers have been doing here lately. With a three month old in the house I didn’t like the idea of fumes and I wanted this job to be quick and the installation done in an hour or two.
Normally, if you are doing a major renovation, I do NOT recommend laying vinyl flooring over tile. I think for a permanent floor it should be done the “right” way. But for a quick phase 1 fix, it’s a great DIY solution to guide you until you’re ready for the contractor’s messy job.
So if you’re looking to do the same to some of your existing tiles that have seen better days, here’s how we did it.
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2. Once the mortar has dried in 24-48 hours, you can sand down any rough spots with medium grit sandpaper.
3. Sweep the floor and remove any dirt with a dustpan as you don’t want anything to get caught under your vinyl floor.
4. Remove the quarter round and base moldings using a pry bar and mallet or hammer. Here’s a post to help you do it if you’ve never done it before. Set the quarter molding and baseboards aside and reinstall them after the vinyl is in (assuming they are in good condition).
5. Measure all the edges around the room and use these measurements to draw a diagram of your room on a piece of paper. There’s never a dull moment with this guy around, even with mundane measuring jobs. 😉
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Also include measurements of any obstructions in the room. We had previously removed our old toilet (this is a great toilet removal video with a good tip to keep water from dripping everywhere) so we also measured where to cut a hole in our sheet vinyl.
7. Unroll your sheet of vinyl and take a nap. I’m kidding. 😉 Well… if you do, we won’t blame you. But at least unroll the vinyl (don’t turn it upside down for measuring/cutting in the next step).
8. Use your diagram as a reference to mark your tape measure measurements on the edges of the vinyl to create a template.
10. And cut the sheet of vinyl with sharp scissors or a utility knife. After trimming the floor, erase the remaining chalk line (Mr. Clean Magic Erasers work great).
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11. Pull your cut vinyl sheet into the room and unfold it. As needed, trim any remaining spots with a utility knife when you place it in the room.
12. Using a nail gun, reinstall the baseboards and quarter-round molding to hold the floor edges in place. (This was according to our manufacturer’s instructions for our particular vinyl floor, but your floor manufacturer may require you to apply the adhesive first.)
13. Then apply white silicone sealant to fill the cracks on the reinstalled trim. And also attach the vinyl edge where it meets the shower/tub/door sill.
But with the mix of warm and cool tones in this floor, I feel like it makes the blue and beige cohesive.
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So now next on the agenda is a patch, touch up some paint and install a new toilet (as the old one was in desperate need of being pulled out for good).
This week I will be painting the doors Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron to match the rest of the house which is already such a deep charcoal color.
And I’ll hang a shade on the window so the whole neighborhood won’t be watching when we can use this bathroom again. Ha!
I’m still debating whether I should hang a long shower curtain in front of this shower door to disguise it. What do you think? Cover or leave alone?
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We are finally home! And then we’ll be getting ready for our first major renovation elsewhere in the house, which I can’t wait to show you all. Eek!!! One thing at a time. Today I’m going to share with you how we installed new vinyl plank flooring over our existing ceramic tile using just a few simple steps to ensure they are properly leveled. We used Golden Select Vinyl Plank in Smokey Barrel.
When things suddenly and drastically changed this spring with the pandemic and our spring break being canceled, we decided to buckle down and tackle some home projects. We haven’t decided whether to replace all the tile in our basement because it seemed like a huge job since the ceramic tile was laid directly on top of the concrete. But we also knew we really wanted to change and refresh the look in the basement as well as create a more consistent flooring choice throughout the space. The old tile was uneven, difficult to clean, hard on the feet and cold in winter. It also wasn’t exactly our style or color preference.
In January I painted all the walls white and we added wallpaper. I also bought some area rugs to cover the thick tile and warm up this space, which definitely worked well as a temporary measure.
But once we decided to redo the family room, update the ceiling, flooring, and upholstery, the project kind of wrapped up to include all the common areas and hallways in the basement.
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We headed down to Costco right before everything broke out pandemic-wise and bought enough boxes of Golden Select Vinyl Plank flooring (in Smokey Barrel) to handle the entire basement floor except for the three bedrooms that had carpet in reasonably good condition (and which keeps things warm in the winter). We could also order Golden Select from Costco online, but we were anxious to get started!
Before we started, we removed the baseboards and made sure our floors were vacuumed and cleaned thoroughly.
I bought this premium floor patch at my local hardware store and mixed it according to the directions on the package. Since our tile had a faux slate type texture, we wanted to smooth it out before installing the vinyl.
I used a wide putty knife to apply the compound to the joints of the joint and any areas that were low, making sure to spread it evenly and scrape off any excess product.
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Since we had already installed the vinyl plank in the family room, we flushed the floorboards with this doorway so that the line would continue. We laid it down first, working our way back from the family room door to determine how wide our first piece needed to be.
Below you can see where the door in the top left of the picture is open, how we aligned the boards so that it was in one line and flowed from the hallway to the basement family room. We later used a transition strip because the two rooms were slightly different heights, but we still wanted the boards to be straight between the two rooms.
The installation was much faster than we expected, given that we had to make a few small cuts.
We ran into some spots that weren’t level, so it was important to build the floor with patching compound to ensure that the vinyl was installed on top of a level surface. We needed to do this where the floor stopped before entering the furnace/engine room in the basement.
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We were very pleased with how easy this vinyl floor was to install (read this post for more details and installation tips).
You can also check out the video I made with our tips – the process is the same, except you’ll make sure your floor is completely level (and patched as needed) when you go straight to the old tile!
No matter how much white paint I used on the walls and how much I cleaned the floor beforehand, it always felt dirty and old. The uniform, easy-to-clean, and beautiful plank floor on the ground floor has completely transformed the basement!
We shared how we laid the same floor directly on the concrete
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