Vinyl Flooring Over Ceramic Tile – All the supplies and steps you need to install sheet vinyl flooring over old tiles for a temporary fix.
Favorite Project Ever! Well, I’d say about 50% of every project we do here, but it’s definitely up there on the highest-conversion-least-amount chart.
Vinyl Flooring Over Ceramic Tile
If you’ve been following along with our master bathroom refresh, Robert and I painted the walls, trim, and cabinets last weekend. But the ceramic tile floor still looked like this:
Vinyl Flooring Vs. Tiles Comparison Guide
Although we’ve saved ceramic tile in our kitchen and hallway bathroom in the past by using a grout pan, this floor seemed to go a long way. And since we were currently stuck with the existing countertop and shower (until a real gut/renovation down the road), I wanted a floor that would complement the 80s beige a little better.
Except I wanted to clean up the tile paint and stenciling rot like so many DIYers have been doing here lately. With a 3 month old at home, I didn’t like the idea of fumes and wanted the job to be quick and installed in an hour or two.
In general, if you were doing a major renovation, I wouldn’t recommend installing vinyl flooring over tile. I think it has to be done the “right” way for a permanent floor. But for a quick fix for Phase 1, this is a great DIY fix to get you through until you’re ready for the contractor’s dirty job.
So if you’re looking to do the same to some of your existing tile floors that have seen better days, here’s how we did it.
Funstick White Peel And Stick Floor Tile Waterproof 12×12 In Marble Adhesive Vinyl Flooring Peel And Stick Tiles For Bathroom Floor Tile Stickers Kitchen Laundry Room Bedroom Laminate Flooring 5 Pack: Amazon.com:
2. After the mortar has dried in about 24-48 hours, you can sand any rough spots with medium grit sandpaper.
3. Sweep the floor and remove any debris with a dustpan because you don’t want to trap anything under your sheet vinyl flooring.
4. Remove the quarter round and baseboard with a crowbar and mallet or hammer. Here’s a post to help you with that, if you’ve never done it before. Set the quarter round trim and baseboards aside to be reinstalled after the sheet vinyl is in (assuming they are in good condition).
5. Measure all the edges around the room and draw an outline of your room on a piece of paper using these measurements. Never a dull moment with this man, even with jobs that measure up to the world. 😉
Different Types Of Vinyl Flooring
Also include measurements of any obstructions in the room. We had already removed our old toilet (here’s a great video on toilet removal with a great tip to keep water from dripping everywhere), so we measured our sheet vinyl for that as well. Where should I make the hole?
7. Roll out your sheet vinyl and take a nap. Just kidding. 😉 Well… we wouldn’t blame you if you did. But at least roll out the sheet vinyl (don’t flip it upside down to measure/cut in the next step).
8. Use your diagram as a reference to mark your measurements using a tape measure on the edges of the sheet vinyl to create a template.
10. And cut the sheet vinyl with sharp scissors or a utility knife. After you cut your floor, erase any remaining chalk lines (Mr. Clean Magic Erasers work great).
Your Guide To Luxury Vinyl Flooring
11. Take your cut sheet vinyl into the living room and lay it out. Trim any remaining areas as needed with a utility knife as you place it in the room.
12. Reinstall your baseboards and quarter round trim with a nail gun to hold your 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 pre-apply the adhesive.)
13. Then, apply white silicone caulk to fill the cracks on the reinstalled trim. And attach the sheet vinyl edges where it meets the shower/tub/door threshold as well.
But with the mix of warm and cool tones in this floor, I feel like it complements the blue and beige.
How To Install Vinyl Plank Flooring
So next on the agenda is patching, some paint, and a new toilet (because the old one is in dire need of a good one).
I will be painting the door Benjamin Moore wrought iron this week to match the rest of the house which is already such a dark charcoal color.
And I’ll hang a window shade so the whole neighborhood won’t have a chance to peek in when we’re actually able to use that bathroom again. Ha!
I keep debating whether or not I should hang a long shower curtain in front of that shower door. what do you think Cover it or leave it?
How To Lay A Vinyl Tile Floor
We are finally here at home! And then we’ll be preparing for our first major renovation elsewhere in the house that I can’t wait to show you all. One!!! One thing at a time though. Today I’m sharing how we installed new vinyl plank flooring over our existing ceramic tile flooring with just a few simple steps to make sure it’s level. We used Golden Select Vinyl Plank in Smoky Barrel.
When things suddenly and drastically changed this spring with the pandemic and our spring break being canceled, we decided to tackle some home projects. We hadn’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 the concrete sub-floor. But we also knew that we really wanted to change and refresh the look of the basement as well as create a more consistent flooring choice throughout the space. The old tile was uneven, hard to clean, hard on the feet and cold in the winter. It wasn’t exactly our style or color preference either.
In January I repainted all the walls white and we added a wallpaper feature wall. I also bought some area rugs to cover the solid tiles and warm up the space, which definitely worked well as a transitional measure.
But once we decided to redo the family room, updating the ceiling, flooring and trim, the project snowballed just as well, including all of the basement common areas and hallways.
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We headed to Costco before everything really blew up with the pandemic and bought enough boxes of Golden Select Vinyl Plank Flooring (in Smoky Barrel) to tackle the entire basement floor except for three bedrooms. I had a carpet in pretty good condition (and one that keeps things warm in the winter). We could also order Golden Select online from Costco, but were anxious to get started!
Before we started, we removed the wall baseboards and made sure to vacuum and clean our floors thoroughly.
I purchased this premium floor patch compound at my local hardware store and mixed it according to the package instructions. Since our tile had the wrong slate type texture, we wanted to level it before installing the vinyl on top.
I used a serrated knife to apply the compound to the grout joints and any low spots, making sure to spread it easily and scrape off any excess product.
Installing Luxury Vinyl Floors Over Engineered Hardwood
Since we already had the vinyl plank installed in the family room, we installed the floorboards next to that door to continue the line. Working back from the family room door, we laid it out first, to determine how wide our first piece should be.
You can see below, in the top left of the photo where the door is open, how we lined up the boards so they were in a straight line and flowed from the hallway into the basement family room. We later used a transition strip because the two rooms were slightly different heights, but we still wanted to keep the boards straight between the two rooms.
Installed much faster than we expected, since we had very little to cut.
We encountered some spots that were not level, so it was necessary to patch the floor with patch compound to ensure that the vinyl plank was installed above the surface level. We needed to do this where the floor stopped before entering the furnace/mechanical room in the basement.
Vinyl Vs. Laminate Flooring: What’s The Difference
We were very pleased with how easy it was to install this vinyl plank flooring (read more details and installation tips in this post).
You can also watch the video I made with our tips – the process is the same as making sure your floor is completely level (and patching as needed) when live Old tiles go on the floor!
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. A smooth, easy-to-clean, beautiful laminate floor completely transformed the basement area!
We shared how we laid the same floor directly over the concrete
Laying Tile Over Vinyl: Should You Do It?
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