Question about laying a tile floor.?
Question:Recently we tiled our kitchen floor. We had to pull up the sheet vinyl and lay a new sub-floor due to a water leak. On top of the sub-floor we layed concrete backer board before laying the tile.
Now we are going to tile our bathroom floors. We are using 16" ceramic tile. My question is: Do we have to remove the sheet vinyl? Do we have to use the cement backer board? Or, can we lay the tile right over the sheet vinyl? Or, can we put the cement backer board right over the sheet vinyl. (The sheet vinyl is in perfect condition.)
My concern about laying the tile directly over the sheet viny is that eventually the mortar will not adhere to the vinyl and the tile will lift up.
Any help with this will be totally appreciated!
Answers:
No you do not have to pull up the vinyl but you do need to install cement backer board. The backer board can be applied directly on top of the vinyl. If you are concerned about door clearances or threshold issues use 1/4" backer board this will work too.
You are probably correct, if the vinyl is shiny the glue/mortar will nto stick and you will be ripping it back up later on. I have seen people sand the vinyl to make it rough enough for the glue/mortar to stick but woudl recommend you rip it up and do it right. Especially if you are going to be in the place for awhile.
You definately need the concrete backer board for moisture especially in a bathroom. If it was in another room in the house you could probably get by without the backer board. You can lay the backerboard directly over the sheet vinyl.
your concern is a real concern. remove the vinyl sheet to make sure a strong bond between the existing floor slab and the mortar holding the new tiles.
It's always best to remove the old vinyl floorring. Also, check the subfloor for any signs of water damage. I use a product called hardy backerboard, Home Deopt and Lowes carry it. It's 1/4" thick and gets glued down with the same mastic as the tile and then screwed down with special screws. Then you lay the tile like you normally would.
I just retiled my kitchen floor and am in the process of doing the bathroom. Are you using the self stick type tiles?
You don't have to remove the sheet vinyl if there is no damage to it. You would be best to lay the back board for a clean surface for the tiles to adhere to. If you are using the self stick tiles and don't want to lay the back board you can make the tiles "stick" buy applying a tile "glue" just a thin layer will make them connect to the floor permanent.
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