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I need an advice/suggestion about flooring. I have approximately 1000sf of 12x12 regular floor tile in my living room and hallways. The cost to remove tile is about $2000, and the process of removing is very messy. Can I float hardwood flooring (tongue & groove) directly over the tile? Thanks!
Hard to say. Depends if you have lots of moisture and not being nailed down is frequently an issue. Its possible the boards could cup, or even bubble up like this:
we had them, over a concrete floor (it was required because the building was designed to shift and sway in the advent of an earthquake), the base boards were a little higher to accommodate the flooring along with a soundproof (looked like plastic / some new tech material) backing layer to buffer sound)...
I'm not a floor guy but it seems to me that the same thing would be done as when real hardwood floors are laid over a concrete slab.
1) Lay down a vapor barrier (heavy polyethylene)
2) Lay down 3/4" tongue and groove plywood and anchor it to the slab (in your case tile) with concrete anchors (the kind that are .22 caliber shells with a "nail" that penetrates and is driven by the powder charge).
3) Nail the floor boards into the plywood as per standard.
It does seem, however, that shooting powder actuated fasteners into ceramic tile would be likely to shatter the tile. If your tile is on a slab, maybe it would work.
You already have the thickness of the tile, now you would add another 1 1/2" for the underlayment and the wood, so all your doors will have to be cut and all the baseboards reinstalled, plus you may find some other interesting things with door trim, and if you have any real low window sills. You will also have to deal with transitions between the new higher floor levels and all the rest of the house and this can get to be quite a project.
You should probably call a floor installer (a real professional) and get their input.
We put a floating cork floor over concrete, but we put drylock down first. It has been there ten years with no problems. I do not see how tile would be any different.
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