Tilers, need your advice...

We would like to tile our kitchen and dining room.

The kitchen currently has linoleum over 1/4" plywood over something else then 1" subfloor. The linoleum does not come off completely (at least not without a lot of work). When we try to tear it off, it leaves its backing on the plywood. Can we just tile over the linoleum or at least tear off the top layer leaving the backing? I'm thinking that this would not be a very good surface to tile over.

In our dining room we currently have badly stained hardwood floors that we have sanded. Will tile hold up directly over the hardwood or do we definitely need to put a backer board down? What if we use Flexbond Thin-Set?

Thanks for reading! Kevin

If the linolium was on a different ply, you might be able to leave it. 1/4" luan (which is probably under the sheet goods) cannot be left in place, tear it off. You will likely have failed installation if you go over the hardwood, too. Depends on what the subfloor composition is, and you need to check the floor joists to see if they are sufficient as well. Tiling directly to plywood can be done but the requirements are two layers of ply in near perfect condition and a very expensive modified thinset. Most people use another approved method, either using a cbu or a membrane over the plywood. Hardwood, though strong, moves too much between seasons to support tile well - you'll get grout cracking and maybe tile as well...it needs to come out completely.

Check out www.johnbridge.com for your tilling questions.

you can.

in the kitchen.

1/4" stuff is not good, but what is under that is the key to your final answer.

joists.

subfloor: 1" -- 1" of what? Chances are it is good news.
subfloor: something else too --- gotta find out what that is too. Chances are it is good news.



David

The house has 1" x 8 or 10 planks on the joists. There is something else in the kitchen that brings it up level with the hardwood floor in dining room. I'll have to dig down to see what it is. Hopefully plywood and not hardwood. Then on top of that is the 1/4" plywood with the linoleum.

You need to isolate any solid wood from the tile, and plywood is the material of choice in all of the approved installation specs. Then, you need something else on top of that to attach the tile to; that can be a cement board (cbu) or a membrane (thinner, easier to install, lighter, costs more).

You may have enough subfloor with the addition of 3/8" ply (more is better) over the planks in the floor, but you don't want to try that over the hardwood...it would be a pain to screw down the ply, and the hardwood would move more than you want. CBU will not isolate the tile well enough over time for your tile to be guaranteed to survive. Same thing with the pine planks in the kitchen...they change size too much with humidity changes and can cup or warp, so you need something over them that is dimmensionally stable - plywood. there are a few people here that understand the rules for a successful tile installation, but you'll have a forum dedicated to it at www.johnbridge.com You'll get more and quicker answers there on this subject plus, they have a library (liberry (sic)) which will answer most of your questions and a joist deflection calculator (deflecto) where you can check your joists for adequate support.

enviroko said:

We would like to tile our kitchen and dining room.

The kitchen currently has linoleum over 1/4" plywood over something else then 1" subfloor. The linoleum does not come off completely (at least not without a lot of work). When we try to tear it off, it leaves its backing on the plywood. Kevin

Click to expand...

Try taking a map gas torch and heating it. Use a hard taping knife to scrape up the residual. Practice safety and wear knee pads, gloves and shoes that you don't want to own anymore.

Tom

You want only structural, exterior rated glue ply underneath your tile...it is highly unlikely that the 1/4-inch stuff you have is...take it out. The easiest way is to take a circular saw, set the depth to just go through the linoleum and the ply and cut it into manageable pieces. Then pry them out. Once you have the first block, the rest should come out much easier.

The material in the kitchen is 3/4" plywood. I will post at johnbridge. Thanks for the referral.