Backer Board Over Sheet Vinyl

This is a 17 year old home.

Backer board over sheet vinyl.

The biggest danger in doing a tile installation over vct or sheet vinyl flooring is not knowing what s under that flooring. I have not seen anyone try to put vinyl over it. First i was told to remove the existing linoleum. Installing ceramic tile over vinyl or linoleum surfaces can be more complicated than expected and probably should be avoided whenever possible.

First changes in humidity make solid wood shrink swell and cup more than plywood. I was going to put down 1 4 hardiebacker board first. In very good condition there is one small squeek in the floor between the shower and the toilet that i want to eliminate with the extra cement board. Then put down mortar with a 1 4 tool onto the ply floor boards.

In my opinion vinyl tiles are out as well due to the fact that the thinset bond is only as good as the bond of the surface under it and i ve seen vinyl tiles especially peel and stick let go way too easily. The same is also true for sheet vinyl. To smooth the floor i covered screw heads and seams in the cement fiber board with thinset. It provides a smooth uniform surface to work with.

Another option to backer board on wood floors is one of the new polyethylene membranes such as schluter ditra. Here s how to go about tiling a floor over vinyl flooring. However if you can t remove the old surface or otherwise decide to install over it lay a backer board with thin set over the old surface to serve as your new subfloor material. According to backer board manufacturers and tile setters installing backer board directly over an old solid wood subfloor is risky for a couple of reasons.

Most vinyl tile floors are thin enough to support the extra thickness of both the backer board and the tile. Here is my concern. I would avoid doing this if i were you. The floor is now smooth.

1 4 luan plywood is common for use underneath vinyl flooring. Second the strength of wood boards isn t always consistent. I have since decided to install vinyl sheet flooring. When tiling over existing vinyl flooring on a plywood subfloor it s not necessary remove the vinyl flooring as long as you apply a layer of cement backer board first to provide a stable surface for the tile.

If the vinyl was applied over a wood subfloor you should install 1 2 thick cement backer board on top of it first using corrosion resistant screws driven into the floor joists. Even if you fasten a cbu or fiber cement underlayment well if you re fastening over vinyl that s been laid over a thin layer of particle board or luan plywood very common you still have a potential problem there. Installing over existing vinyl. The tile used on this.