Laying New Ceramic Tiles onto Existing Ceramic Tiles

I had to do the same about four months ago. Keep in mind:

NEW TILES = MESS = EXPENSIVE = NEED FOR BEER

Hope someone else have a better option for you. Till then, good luck.

Perhaps how you did it will help? The need for beer is noted (but it needs to be cold. I hate warm beer, you know)

It is a well-known urban legend that the alpha female of the household takes great interest in the correct laying of ceramic tiles within the home and the quality of the finished result.

If the operative intending to carry out this task is in any doubt whatsoever, it is far better to contract-out this operation rather than to carry out a do-it-yourself operation that risks going wrong. The extra value committed will prove a valuable insurance policy against the risk of deterioration of domestic relationships....

How bad did you mess it up?

No-one likes

• having to sleep on the front doorstep
• the deaf-and-dumb breakfast
• being sworn at
• being derogated for months on end
• being belted with a lump of 4" x 2" softwood
• the dinner being in the dog
• enquring with the in-laws as to one's spouse's whereabouts
• etc...

So it didn't get messed up. It got contracted-out.

I had a situation a little different than yours, but I think the same method would work. I tiled my bathroom and didn't want water to seep into the subflooring in case of an overflow. I put down the concrete board and used indoor- outdoor carpet adhesive to lay my tile, in my case, to create a waterproof barrier, and followed with grout after 24 hour dry time. Use one of those toothed trowels to apply the adhesive and lay the tile. This should create a good bond between new and old tile. Mine has been in place for a year and still looks great. Hope this helps.

We had our entry way re-tiled 5 years ago. They laid the new tile down on the old tile using the same thin-set and grout that you would normally use. No problems. Lately I did a bathroom, over concrete. It's not too hard to do a good job. Get a tile saw, <$100 and worth it.

My neighbor had his marble installed directly atop his vinyl without removing it. Lowes is a hardware store that sells bags of the glue/cement that is used to install atop vinyl. I would be concerned about thickness because in the door jam the problem occurs if the carpet is not long shag and if the toilet is already tall your making it taller and need another adapter. The sink might have to be changed if you install beneath it or your looking at getting caulk and having to caulk each time it becomes necessary plus wood trim but we used the foam artificial wood trim making it easier to match without mistakes since it cuts readily with a knife. The only other problem becomes dust and waiting for the cement to dry before you can fill holes & paint the walls. Turned out really good too.

I can't blame you for not wanting to rip up old ceramic tile.

I would recommend that you simply call a local flooring company and have them take out the existing floor.

Personally, what you propose is not a good plan:

1. It will increase your risk of having loose, or worse, cracked tiles and the longevity of the job may be compromised.

2. Bonding onto the top smooth surface of the existing tile may require special cement. I suggest calling some of the manufactures' tech support lines for suggestions (no doubt you will get better answers than you can get here).

3. It will raise your existing floor 3/8" higher than it is now and may not blend in with other floor surfaces adjacent to the existing tile. This could increase the chance of tripping, particularly for older people who tend to shuffle.

4. It may adversely impact the value of your home when you go to sell it. Personally, if you are going to do any remodel job I always do it right the first time. That way when I sell the home I don't have to make any excuses to potential buyers about the quality of the work and my money generates maximum return on investment.

Hiring a pro to do a part of the job may not be that expensive and the benefits may pay bigger dividends than the up front cost.

Lastly, if you are hell bent on tiling over existing tiles, call a reputable flooring company or tile manufacture for advice. We are a bunch of really great guys here, but not flooring professionals. Asking engineers about flooring (particularly when trying something unconventional) is akin to asking your auto mechanic for medical advice.

Possibly you may have successes as some say they have, though I am more inclined to agree with AH on this issue.

The issue of additional floor height, is not insignificant, at least typically.

You might ask how this is done at the place where you intend to buy the new tiles.

In my experiences working on renovations we did have to tear out the old to put in properly the new.

The saying is: "If you think a professional is expensive, wait till you hire an amateur."

Try out this on a sample basis and proceed. You take up smooth surface grinding using suitable grinding surface fine abrasive layer stone on a single tile surface and apply the over laying new tile and check for results. Based on the end results you can proceed for bulk operations. The smooth surface of the existing tile may not permit direct fixing of new tile. Take a minor risk.

Hello,

The compound you seek is "Thinset", it's a mastik type adhesive which may have various formulations, sometimes is essentially mortar.

Your installation may benefit by using a membrane between the existing and the new to eliminate former imperfections resuming in the finished project. A membrane will allow for dissimilar expansion without interference, in effect movements of the former will not crack the new nor will water permeate.

You can enquire at the building supply store

I hope it is on a concrete slab. A regular wood sub floor may not be able to handle the additional weight & the tile will crack or the grout will always crack & pop out.

You will also have to consider prepping of the old tiles to hold the adhesive and not pop off the new tile. It maybe a lot easier to just tear it out then to deal with adhesisionn issues & possible load bearing issues.

Good Luck

Seek balance... Pay the pros for old tile removal and clean-up... Then install the new tile yourself.

You'll save money (vs. having a pro do the whole job) and increase quality (vs. laying new tile on old) without having to deal with the really messy part yourself (bonus)

The pros and cons of laying new on old tile have already been listed in other posts...

Dear Maggie

Depending upon which country you are I am recommending the following international brands of adhesive to be used on TILE On TILE

1) Laticrete (Based in USA)

2)BAL (Based in UK)

3)MApei (BAsed in Italy )

Use can go the hardware shop in which any of the adhesives is sold and use one available in your country

Hi Guest,

You may want to think about laying the new tiles at a 90° angle to the ones already laid.

If they are the same size, each tile will overlap four other tiles. This help prevent the weight or pressure of a new layer of the same type and or size of tile pulling the original tiles off.

You could tap with your knuckle each tile and if you hear a 'hollow' sound, then that tile has very little if any fixing at the moment. To remove this single tile, if that is all there is, tap really gently on the centre of the tile until it cracks. Continue to hit it with lots of small blows until that tile is removed, if as indicated when you tapped it with your knuckle it was a hollow sound it should not be very hard to remove.Fill the hole left with a little extra tile cement.

If you have either a whole lot of hollow sounding tiles, or it could be blown plaster under the tiles, you should address this by the same method as I mentioned above. But you will be making a mess anyway as you re-plaster a patch of wall, so why not have a smashing time and remove them all and do the job properly?

If however you are referring to laying floor tiles on top of floor tiles then there is no need to worry. Lay them and grout them with cent only, no sand. It will give a light coloured surround and will be easier to clean than if you use wall tilling grout. Floor grout needs to be more fine and smooth as you finish it.

It would still be advisable to lay them at a 90° angle to the existing tile, so the corners of four tiles meet in the centre of the existing tiles for a better fix and to prevent any 'rocking' of the underneath floor tiles. But once the cement grout has been applied and dried you should have a sound floor.

Hope this helps

Tiling over tile doesn't work properly so you need to remove existing tiles before installing new tiles.

Oh but it does work with th right prep; take the gloss off first

Okay, its good if they work properly, but it will be better for future if you remove existing tiles.