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can ceramic tile be laid on top of linoleum? dh and i are thinking about redoing our kitchen floor which is currently linoleum but neither of us is too thrilled about the idea of having to rip up the linoleum floor because it's a pretty large kitchen so I was hoping we could just lay the tile right on top of the linoleum (fyi, it doesn't contain aspestos). is it possible to do this?
Yes it can be done... A friend of mine did this and it's been years now with no after problems at all. It still looks great...no cracks etc. And it's in his kitchen so it sees a LOT of traffic.
He did a lot of reading and phone work before just jumping in however. He spoke to the linoleum assoc. for tips etc and to the user hotlines of the adhesive manufactures etc. I don't know the specific products he used but in general it involed cleaning the floor,ie dewax , degloss. appling a bonding agent, then appling the thin set mortar, and then grout (with latex additive) .
Do some REAL research with tile manufactures, adhesive folks etc and you'll get the tips needed to do a first rate job. Don't just chat with the Home Depoit dude...
We're also in the process of redoing our kitchen. We are removing the old linoleum and yes it is horrible! Perhaps if the old linoleum is really solid I guess it would work to put the tile over top. We just didn't want to take a chance of having any problems a few years down the road. And our linoleum is SOLID--very solid ( ugh..well glued) and it is only 10 years old. That was just our personal preference.
We're also in the process of redoing our kitchen. We are removing the old linoleum and yes it is horrible! Perhaps if the old linoleum is really solid I guess it would work to put the tile over top. We just didn't want to take a chance of having any problems a few years down the road. And our linoleum is SOLID--very solid ( ugh..well glued) and it is only 10 years old. That was just our personal preference.
I had read your other post which is what prompted mine. dh will never go for this if it's a horrible job. honestly though we're only thinking about doing this if we put our house on the market. we can't afford to renovate the entire kitchen but i thought if we could at least update the floor it might help. the floor's not in bad condition and it's a nice neutral color it's well it's linoleum what else is there to say about it.
the floor's definitely in great condition (no lifting at all). i do have one spot though that might be an issue. the previous owners didn't cut the floor to exact length and there is a spot where they had to lay a second piece of linoleum down to finish the job (of course where they ran short was right at the entrance to the kitchen GRRRRRR, oh no it couldn't have been a corner nope had to be right at the doorway). if we were to decide to put down ceramic tile over the linoleum would this spot cause a problem (you can clearly see the seam)
Installing over linoleum is really not advisable. Is it really linoleum or is it vinyl? I would recommend going over to John Bridge's forum. It is a very good tiling website. Lots of professional tile installers give really good advice to DIYers there. There is a lot more that goes into a tile install than picking tile. What is your subfloor like? Do your joists meet L/360 deflection criteria for ceramic? How flat is your floor? Etc. Lots of things go into a tile install.
I just installed porcelain tile and ripped out all the vinyl (kitchen, bath, laundry). Personally, I feel if you are going to go through all the time/expense, you might as well do it right. You never know what may be hiding under the linoleum/vinyl (cracks, weak subfloor). In my bath, near the toilet, there was very uneven cement that would have degraded the tile's integrity. Get a floor scraper from one of the home improvement stores. You can spray the paper/glue stuck to the floor with 50-50 mix of water and white vinegar and then scrape away. There are a number of good DIY books at Lowes and Home Depot. The web is also very helpful. Just type your question into your search engine and tons of helpful hints will show up. Good luck! The removal of the old floor may be much easier than you think.
We just had ceramic put over linoleum in our bathrooms. It looks great! The installers had no issues.
I should add that our house is only about 8 years old, so the floors are still in great condition. If it was an older home I'd probably rip the linoleum out too.
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