One situation however does require more work and may call for removal of the tile.
Installing engineered wood flooring over tile.
When installing a floor over your existing floor you will want to choose an engineered wood floor that is at least 1 2 thick and over 4 3 4 wide.
For years the only solution to installing hardwood floors over tile was rip it out and install the wood floor.
Engineered wood flooring on the other hand can be glued directly to the existing ceramic.
If your ceramic tile has grout lines that give it texture you will need to fill those in to make your flooring completely level.
Roll out sheets of tar paper over the clean subfloor and use a staple gun to affix the paper to the floor.
The planks glue together to create a floor that floats moves freely as a unit.
Engineered flooring goes down over a thin foam sheet which provides cushioning and sound dampening.
This isn t to say you can install laminate over every tile floor.
What types of installations over tile.
Installing engineered hardwood over existing flooring is a great option for people who have hard to remove floors such as glued down hardwood or glued down vinyl.
Installing hardwood floors over tile.
We are thinking about replacing our tile floor in the kitchen with hardwood.
Whenever you install hardwood flooring over any type of subfloor you must ensure that it is completely level.
Yes you can install hardwood floors over ceramic tile but with a few exceptions.
The tile is laid in a concrete foundation and would be huge mess to rip up.
Some conditions apply but most are easily addressed.
The tar paper will form a moisture barrier which will prevent any condensation from the floors below which could potentially rot away at the underside of your new wood flooring.
You need to leave a 5 16 inch gap between the flooring and the baseboard or wall around the perimeter of the room to allow the floor enough space to expand.
Prefinished engineered wood flooring in a good choice for laying over a tile floor.
This type of wood ranges from 5 16 to 5 8 of an inch thick and won t create a height problem.
Most engineered flooring is prefinished and this permits a very clean installation process.