Floor options for over tile

8 years ago

Purchased a midcentury home last year and we are not loving the current floors. The home was fully updated and expanded in 2000, and they put 13" terra cotta tile through the whole house. It's cute but busy. We just did a midcentury house tour from our community, and the multi-million dollar properties all have light floors that you don't notice at all. The real stars need to be the architecture and the large windows (bringing in the Florida views). Here's the catch: the tile currently goes EVERYWHERE.... all 3100 square feet. I don't think i dislike it enough to go to the trouble/mess to remove it. We'd be cleaning up the dust for years.... That said, we have a condo in town that we could stay in while doing the floors, so we can deal with that inconvenience. Just not the inconvenience of the dust.

So what are my options that are midcentury appropriate AND that i could put on top of tile without having the grout lines show? As said, the tile goes everywhere, but the stairs are floating wood, so we don't have to redo those. But we need to worry about not adding too much height because many of the walls are comprised of sliders with a 1/2 inch lip.

What about a poured epoxy floor? I really like the look of this, but see mixed reviews about using over tile. Do you pour a thin layer of concrete to cover the grout lines?

Poured concrete?

Is it risky to use large format tile on tile?

Terrazzo seems prohibitively expensive.

Any other good ideas?

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Comments (3)

PRO
Cinar Interiors, Inc.
8 years ago
You can lay tile on top of tile as long as the subfloor is prepped properly. You'll have to use a product like Mapei ECO Prim Grip or Sika 02 EZ Primer which is painted on top of the preexisting tile so that thinset can grab hold properly. The tile that you're planning to install on top of must be installed properly, no loose tiles or tiles that could come loose over time. If the integrity of the subfloor is not good, it will affect the top tile.

Another route I would recommend over tile would be to install a product like Coretec by US Floors. This is a floating vinyl plank that will not allow telegraphing with its center core. This product can be installed over preexisting tile.
Michelle Duncan
8 years ago
I'd love to know what you ended up doing- I'm in almost the exact situation!
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SJ McCarthy
8 years ago
Technically tile on tile is POSSIBLE...but not advised. "Real" terracotta tiles are REALLY wavy/uneven floors. That unevenness needs to be dealt with = grinding OR sinking the WHOLE THING in cement (still requires grinding) and going from there. If you only have 1/2" at the sliders, then tile-on-tile isn't going to work. A properly installed tile = 3/4" added height. And that's assuming the tile is being installed over FLAT concrete. Over a wavy/uneven tile, you are going to lose WAY MORE than 3/4" of floor height.

And then there are all the DOORS and TRIM that has to be taken down, recut, and then rehung/resintalled. Boy is that FUN!

A well versed professional can jack out tile with minimal dust (dust extraction units used, proper use of sheet poly, constant cleaning at the end of each day, etc). I'm not afraid of dust. I'm afraid of some 'guy' coming in and throwing down some thinset and slapping down your new tile....only to have it "pop" before spring break. Now THAT'S annoying!