Can I lay a floating floor over existing ceramic tiles?
Tiles make a good base for a floating floor if they are sound, flat and dry. The four checks that decide it, and the two situations where the tiles have to come up.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 30 min
- Read
- 3 min
- Safety
- caution
Short answer
Yes, if the tiles are firmly bonded, flat within the flooring manufacturer's tolerance, and the floor beneath is dry. Check every tile for hollowness, fill the grout lines and any lippage with a levelling compound if they are deep, and check the finished height against your doors and thresholds.
Removing a tiled floor is a filthy, slow and often destructive job, so laying over it is frequently the right answer. The tiles are already flat, hard, stable and bonded to something solid — everything a floating floor wants. The question is only whether they are still doing all of those things.
Safety
Step by step
- Tap every tile.Work across the whole floor with a knuckle or a small mallet. A hollow ring means the tile has lost its bond. A few isolated hollow tiles can be re-bedded or removed and filled; a floor that is generally hollow is not a base, it is a problem.
- Check for cracks and movement.Cracked tiles in a line, or cracks that run through several tiles, mean the substrate is moving. Laying over that hides the movement without stopping it, and the new floor will telegraph it eventually.
- Check flatness with a long straight edge.In several directions. Look for lippage between tiles, dips in the middle of the room, and rises at doorways. The flooring manufacturer states a tolerance and it is usually much tighter than tiles were ever laid to.
- Deal with the grout lines.Narrow grout joints in a flat floor are usually fine under a floating floor with underlay. Wide or deep joints, or lippage, need filling with a levelling compound suitable for tile, over a primer specified for a non-absorbent surface.
- Test for damp if the tiles are on a ground-floor slab.Tiles do not stop moisture, they just do not mind it. A slab that is wet from below will damage a wood-based floating floor laid over it. Do the polythene test before anything else.
- Use a damp proof membrane or a combined underlay on a solid floor.Standard practice over any solid base. Where the tiles are on a ground-floor slab, the membrane goes under the underlay and up the wall behind the skirting line.
- Work out the finished height and check every door.Tiles plus underlay plus board can add a surprising amount. Check the internal doors, the front door, any door that opens inwards, and the height at appliance recesses in a kitchen.
- Check what happens at the doorway.A raised floor meeting a lower one needs a ramp or a step, and a large step in a doorway is a trip hazard. Decide how the level change will be resolved before you buy.
- Take the tiles up if any of the checks fail.Widespread hollowness, active cracking, damp from below, or a height increase you cannot live with all mean the tiles come up. That is a different job with its own guide.
Questions people ask
Do I need to remove the tiles in a kitchen if the units sit on them?
No, but you have a choice to make about whether the new floor runs under the units or up to the plinth. There is a separate guide on that, and it matters more in a kitchen than anywhere else.
Can I lay glue-down LVT over tiles?
Yes, but the grout lines and any lippage must be filled and levelled first, because a thin bonded covering telegraphs every joint. This is more preparation than a floating floor needs, not less.
What about tiles with underfloor heating beneath them?
The heating still has to get through. Adding a floating floor and underlay adds thermal resistance, and the combined figure has to stay within what the heating system can push through. Check it before you buy the underlay.