timber flooring over tiles?

[MickMcG]

Hi folks,

The previous owner of our house was a tiler and has ceramic tiles on all the downstairs floors in the house. The tiles are lovely but we have a little man about to start walking and to be honest we find them a little cold - especially in the mornings..

What we'd like to do is put down timber flooring in our sitting room and dining room but we're just wondering what the implications of doing that might be. Would we have to lift the tiles? Could we put down a semi solid floor by running thin battons over the tiles and attaching our floor to them... Digging out the current floor would be a last resort. If we went for a semi solid floor we'd probably be left with a step down into the kitchen and halls - side rooms but i guess we could live with that.

Whats the least height we could expect the floor to rise above the tiles? would you get away with 3/4" battons and floor boards? giving say a rise of 1.5 inches?

Anyone have any advice on the best way to proceed?

Cheers, Mick

[Tim Mitchell]

In article , MickMcG writes

Why don't you just lay some carpet with thick underlay over the top? Or if you want wood you can get click-together stuff (like laminate floor but wood) which is not very thick and does not need battens.

[RichardS]

To be honest, in a situation like this I'd go for a decent quality no-glue laminate.

The difference in levels will be minimal, the cost comparable to carpet, no risk of nails, splinters, etc, and if the tiles are a distinctive feature then you may well find it a rather better selling feature than wooden floors.

Underlay + laminate will certainly take some of the chill off the floor.

Besides, it's an easy-clean surface.....

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[Christian McArdle]

Why not lift the tiles? They should come off easily with an SDS chisel. Take off the adhesive with a spade (and if necessary lay a few mm of self levelling compound) ready for the carpet/laminate/hardwood underlay.

Christian.