Yes, You can Tile Over-top Of Old Tile

​Tired of your outdated tiles? Do you want to replace them with something fresh? Don't tear out your old tile: just tile over it! 

Vinyl plank flooring has received plenty of attention in the past few years, in part because it is so easy to install over older, existing flooring, but with today’s modern primers and thinsets, you can easily tile over an older, outdated tiled or vinyl surface, with no mess and no fuss!  

Tiling Over Existing Ceramic & Porcelain TilE

Tiling walls or floors with existing ceramic or porcelain tile is easy with these 3 simple steps. (*Note: the existing tiled floor must be sound, solid and fully bonded in order to tile over top.)
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Wash the wall/ floor with a degreaser to remove any bond breakers/ oils. A safe, acidic cleaner, such as Laticrete Stonetech Restore is a great choice.
Apply a specific thinset bonding primer. For this, you can use Kiesel Okatmos UG30 primer. It’s water based, and very simple to use; simply use a paint roller and roll it on.
Install new tile over the cured primer with thinset. Use the same brand of thinset as the primer, so you won’t void warranty.

Tiling Over Existing Vinyl

You can remove the existing vinyl flooring & particle board subfloor before tiling, but there are many circumstances where you can tile directly over the vinyl flooring to save tear-out! Here are things you need to consider first:
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• You cannot tile over “cushion” vinyl  flooring. 
• The vinyl flooring must be securely fastened (fully glued down). Perimeter glued installations are not acceptable.
• You can only tile over 1 layer of vinyl. If there are several layers from previous renovations you cannot tile over top of them all.
• The particle board underneath must be sound & firm. If there is existing water damage (ie dishwasher leak) then the particle board may be spongy and you will not be able to tile over top.

If your floor meets all the requirements, wash the floor with a degreaser, to remove bond breakers and oils, and apply a specific thinset bonding primer (eg. Kiesel Okatmos UG30 primer) in the same way you would for over old ceramic tile. 

Now, here is where the process differs. Once the primer is dry, install an uncoupling membrane, using thinset. Use the same brand of thinset as the primer to retain warranty. 

Once the thinset under the uncoupling membrane has cured, you can start installing your new tile over top! 

The technical information within this article is for reference only and does not supercede instructions from other product manufacturers. Always consult and follow manufacturers’ specific installation instructions before installing your tile for best results.