What Flooring Can Be Installed Over Tile – Today I’m sharing how we installed new vinyl plank floors over our existing ceramic tile floor in just a few easy steps to ensure it’s level. We used the Golden Select vinyl plank at Smokey Barrel.
When things changed drastically and dramatically this spring due to the pandemic and our spring break was cancelled, we decided to sit down and tackle some home projects. We didn’t decide whether to change all the tiles in our basement as it seemed like a huge job since the ceramic tiles were laid directly onto the concrete floor. But we also knew we really wanted to change and freshen up the look of the basement, as well as create a more consistent flooring choice throughout the space. The old tiles were uneven, hard to clean, stiff on the feet and cold in winter. It’s also not exactly our style or color preferences.
What Flooring Can Be Installed Over Tile
In January I repainted all the walls white and we papered the wall. I also bought some rugs to cover the durable tile and warm up this space, which definitely worked well as a temporary measure.
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But once we decided to transform the family room by updating the ceiling, floor, and trim, the project snowballed into all the basement common areas and hallways.
We headed to Costco just before things really exploded due to the pandemic and bought enough boxes of Golden Select Vinyl Plank flooring (at Smokey Barrel) to cover the entire basement floor except for three bedrooms that had carpet in a pretty good condition (and that keeps things warm in winter). We could also order Golden Select from Costco online, but we were itching to get started!
Before we started, we removed the baseboards from the walls and thoroughly vacuumed and brushed the floors.
I purchased this high quality flooring compound from my local hardware store and mixed it according to the directions on the package. Because our tile had a texture similar to faux slate, we wanted to level it out before laying the vinyl on top.
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I used a wide spatula to apply the compound to the grouts and any areas that were low, being careful to distribute it evenly and scraping off any excess product.
Since we already installed the vinyl plank in the common room, we lined up the floorboards with this doorway so the line would continue. We first laid it out, working backwards from the living room doorway, to determine how wide our first piece should be.
You can see below where the door is open in the top left corner of the image, how we lined up the boards so they are in a straight line and flow from the entryway to the basement living room. We later used a transition strip as the two rooms were slightly different heights, but we still wanted the boards to be right between the two rooms.
The installation went much faster than we expected, given that we needed to make some small cuts.
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We ran into some places that weren’t level so it was important to patch the floor to make sure the vinyl plank was installed over a level surface. We needed to do this where the floor ended before entering the furnace/mechanical room in the basement.
We were very pleased with how easy this vinyl flooring was to install (read this post for more details and installation tips).
You can also watch the video I made with our tips – the process is the same, with the addition that your floor needs to be completely level (and corrected if necessary) as you walk straight across the old tile floor!
No matter how much white paint I used on the walls and how much I washed the floor before, it always seemed dirty and old. A uniform, easy to clean, beautiful plank floor downstairs completely transformed the basement!
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In this post, we shared how we installed this same floor directly onto the concrete floor in our living room.
You can find the Golden Select at Costco and it comes in several beautiful color options. We love the Smokey Barrel color but I would love to use Antique Oak in our new build!
The Happy Houseie is a member of the Amazon Services LLC affiliate advertising program. If you click on the link to Amazon, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases – at no cost to you. Thanks for your support! Scroll Up If you’re tired of looking at outdated ceramic tiles but don’t have the time (or budget) to showcase your old flooring, there are actually several types of flooring that you can install right on top of your unsightly old tiles. Today I’m going to talk about the different types of flooring that can be installed directly on top of tiles – no demo required!….
In an ideal world, I’d replace all of the nasty flooring in my previous retainer before moving even a single box of my stuff inside.
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Unfortunately, at the time, I was practically broke and didn’t have the change to do these things.
You see… eight years ago, floating floor systems like LVT or LVP had not yet evolved into what they are today, with the clear use of being installed over pre-existing subfloors. In fact, what I knew was the only option at the time involved the tedious and messy job of demolishing my existing floors and then paying a hefty premium to the subcontractor to install the new floor.
And so… I lived with floors that I absolutely despised for about four years… that is… until I came across a lockable flooring system that the manufacturer’s instructions said I could lay right on top of the dirty ceramic tiles in my kitchen.
After this discovery, I used two other types of flooring in the same way on my ranch in the 1980s, so I decided to use this post to show you the different options that exist for this unconventional application.
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For your shopping convenience, this post contains affiliate links. As an affiliate of Reward Style and Amazon, I earn sales commissions at no additional cost to you.
LVT was my first foray into the world of floating floors. As you can see in the photo above, my husband and I used luxury vinyl tile to hide the outdated ceramic tiles in my kitchen (you can read my LVT installation guide here) and it made a huge difference.
The beauty of LVT is that it is great for areas exposed to water because the product is waterproof (unlike traditional hardwoods). I also found the product to be low maintenance given the lack of grout and the inevitable messy grout line issue common with traditional tiles.
Installing this product is relatively beginner friendly and we were able to completely change the look of our kitchen in one weekend.
Lvp And Lvt
Not all luxury vinyl tile is suitable for laying over existing tile, so make sure the manufacturer’s instructions expressly state that it is “suitable for laying over existing tile.”
If the LVT floor isn’t thick enough, you risk a telegraph effect where the grout lines of the ceramic tile start to surface through the new floor, creating a not-so-pleasant atmosphere.
Luxury vinyl tile and luxury vinyl plank are essentially the same product. Both are waterproof and do not require grouting or sealing, however luxury vinyl planks come in longer lengths and are more suitable for wood effect.
While you might think that I put tiles in my bathroom, this particular type of latch and lock floor was actually plank….
Can You Put Laminate Over Tile? (answered)
As with LVT, you need to make sure the deluxe vinyl board you go with has a thick enough padding to avoid the risk of cabling. From a distance, you would never guess that the floor in my bathroom (you can read more about my bathroom here) was not real tile.
Two years ago, I was completely blown away when Shaw Floors approached me to collaborate with me on developing a completely new type of engineered hardwood that could be laid over hardwood tile and subfloor like LVT or LVP.
I decided to install hardwood flooring in my foyer (which had very ugly ceramic tiles) and in the dining room, living room, and bedrooms (which had wood planks that looked like they came straight from home).
What was even better about floating wood planks was that they were waterproof and scratch resistant. What I found even more advantageous about this product compared to LVT and LVP is that when we were going to sell our house this year, we could legitimately boast in the MLS description that the house had brand new hardwood floors.
Types Of Flooring That Can Be Laid Over Ceramic Tile
While hardwood floating boards can be a little more expensive than luxury
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