How to Lay Ceramic Floor Tiles Over Vinyl

If you have a vinyl floor and want to move up to ceramic tile, you can lay the ceramic over the vinyl with the proper preparation. Before laying the tile, make sure the vinyl is solid and firmly adhered, with no loose or peeling spots to ensure that the tile has a firm base. You must also degloss the vinyl, so that the mortar used to set the ceramic tile will adhere properly.

Things You'll Need

• Power sander
• Medium sandpaper
• Chalk snapline
• Carpenter's square
• Ceramic tiles
• Notched tiling trowel
• Thinset mortar
• Tile spacers
• Tile cutter
• Grout
• Grout trowel
• Sponge

Instructions

1. Use a sander to dull the shine of the vinyl, lightly going over the entire surface of the vinyl. Clean up the dust.

2. Stretch a chalk snapline over the middle of the floor, dividing the area in half. Snap the line. Stretch the string in a perpendicular direction across the middle of the floor, so that this snapline intersects the first line. Adjust the position of the string against a carpenter's square at the intersection to make sure it's 90 degrees off the first line. Snap the line.

3. Apply thinset mortar on the intersection, using a notched trowel. Cover enough space to set four tiles. Press them in place at the intersection, putting tile spacers between them.

4. Lay the rest of the floor, applying mortar and pressing tiles in place along the marked lines first, then building outward. Put spacers between all of the tiles. Cut the tiles at the edges of the floor with a tile cutter.

5. Let the tiles set over night. Pull out the spacers.

6. Lay grout over the floor, using your grout float to press it into the spaces between the tiles. Scrape the grout off the tile face. Use a damp sponge to wipe up the excess grout.

Tips & Warnings

• Wear protective eye gear while cutting tiles.

References

• DannyLipford.com: Laying a Tile Floor.