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Remodeling Flooring Kitchens

Coretec over tile floors

Ashleigh Verdier

6 years ago

I am buying a house and putting in Coretec 5" planks through the entire 1380 sqft. In the kitchen I currently have these big 18" square ceramic tiles that look very well connected to the subfloor. I know that Coretec is designed to be installed over any floor, including tile. However, I'm worried that this tile is too thick and going to be a problem. I haven't been able to measure the difference between tile heights yet. Also, the kitchen bumps up against the laminate living room floors and the carpet in the office, as well as two external doors. Coretec makes reducers that are designed to transition between these spaces but I don't want there to be a big difference in height. I'll and up tripping on the reducers all the time.

I could rent a tile stripper and spend a day pulling up the tiles and prepping the floor below. But, if I don't have to, I don't want to. What would you do? Has anyone here had a similar experience?

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Comments (2)

SJ McCarthy
6 years ago
If you are spending ALL THAT money for CoreTech, you might as well get the floors level! Another $2/sf to remove the tile should be do-able. Remove the tiles and you NEVER have to deal with them EVER AGAIN.

And just to let you know, tiles will often sit 3/4" HIGHER than the subfloor. Now IMAGINE putting the 1/2" CoreTech over that tile. The drop is going to be MORE THAN 1 INCH!!!!

Toe stubber extraordinaire! Remove the tile, carpet and laminate and do this the *right way. The way that makes sense. The way that will make life SOOOOO much easier in the future.

Why sacrifice the look of your home (1380sf) because you do not want to remove 300sf of tile? It doesn't make sense. It would be in the category of "Cutting off your nose to spite your face".

Yes, jacking out tile is dirty and dusty and not a lot of fun. But it happens every day all over the world. It is the right thing to do. If you leave the tile, the transitions through a few door ways would be SIGNIFICANT and ANNOYING.

Or you can RAISE the floor heights in the other 1080sf (imagine $3/sf to raise up the 1000+ sf...) just so you do NOT have to remove 300sf of tile. Hmmmmm. That doesn't make any sense at all.

Please take out the tile. You will be SOOOO much happier that you did. Trust me.
Ashleigh Verdier
Original Author
6 years ago
thank you SJ McCarthy! Thats what I needed, a swift kick in the arse to make the right decision. I knew you were right, and just didnt want to have to deal with one more thing. I didnt know that tile sat so high on the subfloor, but that makes sense why it looks so much taller than the cheap laminate. I hope I can use the tile stripper machine to rip out the laminate too without a huge hassle. I guess we'll see! Thanks for your input!
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