Tile question

[Bumblebee]

Hi - Opinions on installing tile over linoleum? I have a newer house (4yrs old) When we had it built, we had linoleum installed with the idea of doing tile later on down the road. Since it's newer, I imagine that the removal is going to be a major pain. I've done several DIY tile jobs in the past, but never any over linoleum. I am not planning on installing directly to the linoleum. I would either buy concrete backerboard and screw it down (through the linoleum and into the plywood subfloor) or apply some sort of metal mesh (such as stucco netting) screw it down, and then apply the tile over that. I've seen several discussions online and most all say do not install tile to linoleum... but none of them include these extra steps, they are all talking about laying tile directly over the linoleum.

Thanks

[krw]

I'd tear up the floor. Thinset (as well as screws) is used to put down backerboard. Linoleum or vinyl aren't going to make a very stable foundation and may move. Ripping up vinyl and glue can be a PITA but it's necessary, IMO.

[gfretwell]

They put tile over a membrane all the time. Roll that over your linoleum and rock on. I would just put it over the linoleum if it was me. Use Ultraflex mortar I have tile over 12x12 vinyl tile and it survived far more abuse than most tile has in a lifetime. We tore the room down and rebuilt it without tearing up the tile.

[Molly Brown]

Ditto [e-mail]

[aemeijers]

The vinyl sheet is not directly over the plywood subfloor, in all odds. There is another layer of SOMETHING under there. In the old days, it would have been 5/8 particle board- might be 3/8 luan (sp?) plywood nowadays. On a house that new, any way to call the builder and find the flooring sub, and ask how they glue stuff down? You might get lucky and it is only edge-glued, and can come up without too much problem.

I'd be hesitant, on a house that new, to make the floor an inch taller. It makes the room doorway transitions a PITA. And in a kitchen, you run into all the usual problems with the countertops suddenly being an inch shorter, and the dishwasher getting trapped, etc. (Unless you do it the purist way and pull out or shim up all the base cabinets, which might not be that big a deal in a basically new house, unless you have a fancy backsplash on the counters.)

So to sum up- IMHO, do it the right way and strip the old floor/underlayment, or learn to love the vinyl that was 'good enough' when you moved in. An overlaid layer of backer board (or mud bed) and tile would stick out like a sore thumb to anyone that knows how a house goes together.

[krw]

It was in my previous house. Well, there was glue in there. :-(

Yes, that would be lucky.

It's not too bad to transition to carpet. The other rooms I tiled I transitioned to 5/8" bamboo, also new, so it wasn't a problem. I'd *always* run the flooring under appliances. It's not *that* expensive and it saves a lot of headaches later. Base cabinets in the kitchen (bamboo part of the floor) I left as they were. I pulled vanities and tiled under. It't easy enough.

Not sure how they would know, but I certainly wouldn't want to do all that work and have something move. *CRRAAACK!*

[Steve B]

Steve

[Red Green]

Bumblebee wrote in news:bac4205f-cb18-4156-ba62- [e-mail]:

Well I just put some down a couple of months ago.

I spread plain econo grey thinset on the lino, backerboard on top of that screwed down. Econo thinset just smooths out any irregularities. Not meant for adhesion to lino. Leave like a 1/8" gap between backerboard pieces. No 3 corners of backerboard can meet at the same place. When you put the tile down with quality thinset, be sure to fill and tape the gaps with mesh tape designed for backerboard.

Be sure to select screws long enough to penetrate through the subfloor for your case.

Best possible way to do it? No, it's not the Cadillac way. As I said, it's only been a couple of months. Test of time will tell.