How To Install Vinyl Tile Over Ceramic Tile

If you want to put vinyl peel and stick tile over ceramic tile and get good results you have to do something about those grout lines.

How to install vinyl tile over ceramic tile.

Ceramic tile has grout joints that are uneven so if you were to install the vinyl over top you would see the grout joints underneath the vinyl. Installing vinyl over tile flooring is an easy project even a diy novice can attempt following these steps. Over one year ago i installed luxury vinyl tile directly over pre existing ceramic tile flooring. Over time the vinyl will sink or be pressed down into the contour of these depressions telescoping the grout joints from the ceramic tile installation all the way up through the vinyl tiles.

Smooth out the tile. The ceramic tile must be in good shape without cracks or large gashes. While standard sheet vinyl that is well bonded usually makes an acceptable base for ceramic tile that s not true of all forms of resilient flooring. If the grout lines in the ceramic tile are deep you ll see and feel them under sheet flooring and if you choose to install preglued vinyl tiles they won t stick.

The main caveat is that all vinyl formats call for a smooth subfloor including sheet vinyl vinyl tile and luxury vinyl planks and tiles. Then smooth out the ceramic tile before laying the vinyl. Start in the inside of the room and scoop out a bunch of the leveling compound and smooth it over the grout lines with a trowel or putty knife and let it dry. The longer i live on this planet the more i shy from taking risks i think it has something to do with all of the trouble i encountered as a teenage daredevil.

Use a self leveling compound to fill in the grout joints. With vinyl tile the possibility of shifting is also present. Once the tile is leveled off your next step is to remove the toilet so that the floor can be laid under it not cut around it. Today i am sharing my one year follow up review of the product.

Fortunately ceramic tile is often a suitable surface on which install vinyl planks. Although ceramic tile is not the ideal surface on which to install vinyl peel stick we have had plenty of customers who have dobe this successfully. I recommend henry patch n level which you can buy pre mixed. Loose lay perimeter bond sheet vinyl can shift beneath the tile installation making it unsuitable as a base for ceramic tile.

Next if the tile s joints are deep you ll want regrout them to bring them flush with the tile so that the lines won t telegraph show through the vinyl floor.