Floor Tile on Floor Tile

[MartinH]

Folks your help on this one would be appreciated....

Got a call from an oldish chap asking for a quote to tile his kitchen, but also saying that he wanted to tile on existing tile......ive been asked about this for wall tiles before but never floor tiles....As a new person to the trade, I have concerns but you may tell me otherwise....he was quite insistent that he didnt want existing taken up !

Existing floor is ceramic and new tiles are also ceramic...any advice, including run a mile! would be gratefully received !!

 

[Ian]

It's not good practice and most people on here would tell you not to do it including me! The problem is you have no idea how well (or not) the existing tiles are stuck to the floor. It can be done no problem with getting the new tiles to stick to the old ones, but for me, I'd say no.

 

[Ian]

Forgot to ask, what is the substrate? Concrete or wood or other?!

 

[MartinH]

Bri substrate is concrete

 

[DHTiling]

I'm with bri.. should really be a start from afresh..

 

[MartinH]

Dave I did say this but the guy wasnt in the advice mood - I dont want to turn the work down as its a sizeable job, but at same time I dont want to have to handle any repercussions that present themselves afterwards, and these old geezers are like "dogs with bones" when something goes a**e up !

 

[Ian]

Dave I did say this but the guy wasnt in the advice mood - I dont want to turn the work down as its a sizeable job, but at same time I dont want to have to handle any repercussions that present themselves afterwards, and these old geezers are like "dogs with bones" when something goes a**e up !

If it's a decent size job can you fin a way of pricing the removal in? At the end of the day it's half a days work and a small skip to get rid of the old stuff so it might be worth doing it in your own time to get the job. It's your call mate!

 

[Del W]

Tile on tile,not a good idea.But if you need the work. Do a proper quote on paper and get customer to sign saying that you advise against it.

 

[nybor62]

ask him to visit the forum , for a second opinion , or third or fourth

 

[andy8758]

I hear everyone with admittedly more experience than me who suck their breath in and go "No, no, no" at the suggestion of tiling onto tiles. However, a little lateral thinking is necessary sometimes.

I personally would not tile over tiles on a wall because of the weight issues, but on a concrete screed floor, things can be different.

I recently had a customer who wanted an utility room and bathroom floor tiled. Both floors were already tiled, and the hallway they abutted onto was tiled with terracotta tiles that were between 10 and 15 mm higher than the other rooms floor! If I took the existing floor tiles off, then I would have been faced with building a concrete floor up to 18mm before tiling (to get the level floor area the customer wanted).

So I removed one floor tile in each room - 100% adhesive coverage. Then checked entire floor area for hollow spots. Cleaned both floors with Grimex, and tiled.

First off - is that really any different from tiling on a backer board?

Second - I will report back in 10 years as to whether the tiles are still OK.

 

[kilty55]

i agree with bri,it can be done but i wouldnt do it for the reasons mentioned

if its concrete cant you put a price in and add a few pounds....go in and gun the lot up when hes down the shops?:yikes::smilewinkgrin:

 

[MartinH]

i agree with bri,it can be done but i wouldnt do it for the reasons mentioned

if its concrete cant you put a price in and add a few pounds....go in and gun the lot up when hes down the shops?:yikes::smilewinkgrin:

Kilty you can bet your bottom dollar and in true aging gentleman style, he'd be watching my each and every movement for the duration of the job as it would make a change from him having to watch "Cash in the Attic" or water his tomato plants !!

 

[aph257]

did he give a reason why he didn't want them taking up?

 

[kilty55]

hehe class,

 

[MartinH]

Paul - he wouldnt give me a direct answer when I asked - he was just adamant he wanted to tile over tile ........maybe theres a body underneath ??? but i do find it strange even when i said it would raise his floor level by a centimetre he didnt seem concerned ....im sure theres a body underneath!!