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Ceramic tile over old vinyl squares?

16 years ago

Hi -

I will be asking many questions in the near future since it looks like we are set to close on a weekender/eventual retirement lake house. It was built in the 60's and there's tons of updating to do. First up - strictly cosmetic fixes to get it "stayable" for DW.... - flooring & paint.

In the kitchen, bedrooms & bathroom there is old vinyl tile over solid concrete slab. No sign of any loose, cracked, peeling tiles - very solidly applied. I hesitate to take it up or even sand it since I'm guessing that, due to it's age, it's probably got asbestos.

The living room probably has it too - we'll know when we rip out the carpet - but I plan on floating laminate flooring over it in there & in the bedrooms (or carpet there - whichever is cheaper at this point).

I am leery of putting laminate in the kitchen & bathroom and would like to do ceramic tile or even stone. What you would recommend? Can we tile right over it?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

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Comments (2)

sierraeast
16 years ago
You might ask over at the flooring forum. Lots of pros hang there and you might also try:

Here is a link that might be useful: tile advise
davidandkasie
16 years ago
they need to come up before laying tile directly over them. if you think they may have asbestos, then send a small sample for testing.

what i would do though is to open as many windows as you can, stick some fans inthe windows blowing out, and seal off the doors and vents with palstic. then using a wide scraper( i prefer the 12" with a long handle) scrape them up. i doubt very seriously tha tthey will flake much. if the tiles come up whole there is almost zero chance of stirring up asbestos. you could get a disposable suit and mask(not the paper ones get a decent mask) at any home improvement store in the paint area.

if it makes you more comfortable, wet the area as you scrape to eliminate dust.
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Thanks for your answers! glennsfc, Sorry I don't know the technical word for that. But with the word "peeling" ceramic, I meant the top coat of the ceramic tile is peeling off in a few spots on the tiles. There're not a lot of those but I just know they're there... I read on this blog that a lady installed vinyl tile on top of the existing ceramic tiles. I wonder if anyone has that experience? The ceramic tiles I have right now is not in extremely bad condition, just a few "peeling" spots, very light color and stained yucky stained grout. http://www.sasinteriors.net/2012/10/installing-groutable-vinyl-tile-lowes/ So I wonder if there's anyway to work this out... with a baby in the house, I don't really want to make a big mess. Plus I don't have a lot of time to do that... :( .
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