Luxury vinyl plank over ceramic tile?

Plainfield, IL · Member since 2016 · 139 posts · 53 votes

Wondering if I can place luxury vinyl plank flooring right over existing ceramic tile without having to level the grout lines. The grout lines themselves are not much deeper than the top of the ceramic tile(See picture below). I'd rather not demo the existing ceramic tile, since my budget is pretty tight, and that will take a decent amount of time(For about 800 SF).

If I do need to fill the grout lines, what is the easiest and most cost effective solution? I've been reading some other media about this, but with the grout lines being small and not that deeper then the top of the tile, I can't image the vinyl planks 'dipping in' due to the slight imperfections of leveling.

This is the type of flooring I am looking to put in, since it looks nice, its waterproof, and solid choice for wear-and-tear. Thoughts?

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Jim Adrian

Architect · Papillion, NE · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 840 votes

If you decide to go over the top of the ceramic tile it could affect all your door swings over the new flooring. Verify the door clearance.

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Benjamin Tighe
Medford Oregon · Member since 2019 · 85 posts · 65 votes
7y
To do it right, you need to prime the tile with a non porous primer and skim coat it. Planipatch sucks to work with but will stick when mixed with additive. I love the uzin products. It will cost a couple hundred bucks but at least it will be right. I can prime and skim 800sf in about 4 hours but I have 19 years in the flooring trade. Not filling the grout joints is a no go for any flooring that would be glued down. A click together product would go over but if you have ledging on the tile you will get deflection in the floor. This movement will wear on the locking system and the product will fail, eventually... Demo and If you demo it out your casings will have gaps at the bottom unless you underlay and bring the floor back up to original or slightly greater height. Check fridge and dishwasher clearances as well if your using a thicker product over the tile to make sure everything fits. The demo will be harder than you think! Worst case 800sf tile demo would take 3 days! Especially if they installed backerboard like denseshield over plywood and did it the right way.
If this is a flip, half assing the rehab is going to burn your buyer. If you are holding it as a rental, you will have to deal with a premature failure yourself. I understand the need to save cost but don't compromise your integrity. About 10 years ago I worked with a partner and we were basically hacking in carpet. We could slam 2 to 3 houses a day and made a killing, until we ate a job. Cost me $7k, made the shop look bad, and took me a while to reestablish my good name. One of the best $7k lessons I ever paid for. My work and reputation is basically gold today because of that.
Last bit of advice. Follow the manufacture's directions! Products and technology change constantly and a lot of pros fail to adjust their methods to meet new specs.
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Henry Lazerow
Real Estate Agent · Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
7y
I did it and came out perfect. Used higher quality 6mm luxury vinyl plank from Floor and Décor.
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Benjamin Tighe
Medford Oregon · Member since 2019 · 85 posts · 65 votes
7y
6mm material gives a lot a room to bridge and span imperfections in the subfloor. The reason your project probably looks great is because you used HIGHER QUALITY materials. I can polish turds with the best of them but I can't kill the smell.
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Jeremy Elcox
Newport News, VA · Member since 2016 · 28 posts · 12 votes
7y
Adam Juodis, I went with Smart-core Ultra and it covers all kinds of imperfections. Yes it's a bit pricy but it worked very well for slightly messy subfloor. It's rather thick so you "might" have to cut in the door frames but that took 20 seconds with a saw. The pro-core might work for you if the tile is solid. 2.50 a sq ft and nice backing. Best of luck and lets see the final pics. Jeremy
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Account Closed
Rental Property Investor · grand rapids · Member since 2017 · 28 posts · 24 votes
7y
@Adam Juodis had to jump in when I saw people advising to rip out the tile. I work in sales at Shaw Industries (when I'm not doing RE), we are the largest vinyl manufacturer in the world. Do not tear out the tile. Most WPC and RCB vinyl can go over grouted tile. If you google Shaw Floorte Pro, anything in that line will go over tile as long as the grout lines are less than .5" wide and .25" deep. You don't even need to prime the joints or anything, just float it right over the tile. Hope that helps
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Roni E.Pro Member
Specialist · Earth 2.0 · Member since 2019 · 598 posts · 271 votes
7y
Try the Mohawak floating product.
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John Lewis
Rental Property Investor · La Place, LA · Member since 2014 · 109 posts · 82 votes
6y
I used Lifeproof from Home Depot and loved it. It was a little pricey so I went to the contractor area and asked what they could do. They sent it to the bid room and knocked off almost $0.50/sq foot which was amazing. Actually had a leak in the bathroom which saturated the floors and they held up well.
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Rob Massopust
Real Estate Broker · Santa Ana CA [South Coast Metro] · Member since 2016 · 459 posts · 202 votes
6y
Its for a rental. Do one and see how it looks, change as needed.
Use a good quality LVP with backing, level floor where needed. Check your mouldings you might have to move up or replace etc.
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Rick Wade
Member since 2019 · 56 posts · 40 votes
6y
Yes, you can lay LVP over most anything. Should you? No, it will fail much quicker. If you are working a market, your reputation should be important. Hire some laborers as someone above stated, and remove it in a day for little cost. You can lay a floor layment over the floor after removing the tile. This will give you a nice flat (not always level) surface to lay your flooring over. This small extra step will provide a much better product for little cost.
Rick
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Mandan, ND · Member since 2017 · 42 posts · 64 votes
6y
Originally posted by @Adam Juodis:
Wondering if I can place luxury vinyl plank flooring right over existing ceramic tile without having to level the grout lines. The grout lines themselves are not much deeper than the top of the ceramic tile(See picture below). I'd rather not demo the existing ceramic tile, since my budget is pretty tight, and that will take a decent amount of time(For about 800 SF).
If I do need to fill the grout lines, what is the easiest and most cost effective solution? I've been reading some other media about this, but with the grout lines being small and not that deeper then the top of the tile, I can't image the vinyl planks 'dipping in' due to the slight imperfections of leveling.
This is the type of flooring I am looking to put in, since it looks nice, its waterproof, and solid choice for wear-and-tear. Thoughts?

Why in the world would you want to get rid of that beautiful ceramic tiles???
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John Brower
Randolph, NJ · Member since 2019 · 3 posts · 0 votes
6y
The glue down versions will need leveling and or filling of the grout joints but can be installed all the way to the wall. The rigid core versions of the floating floors will perform over the joints. There were many suggested in previous posts. But you now will need to install trim around the perimeter in that they are to be installed about a 1/4" short of the wall to allow for expansion.
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Long Tran
Member since 2021 · 5 posts · 1 vote
4y
Originally posted by @Adam Juodis:
Wondering if I can place luxury vinyl plank flooring right over existing ceramic tile without having to level the grout lines. The grout lines themselves are not much deeper than the top of the ceramic tile(See picture below). I'd rather not demo the existing ceramic tile, since my budget is pretty tight, and that will take a decent amount of time(For about 800 SF).
If I do need to fill the grout lines, what is the easiest and most cost effective solution? I've been reading some other media about this, but with the grout lines being small and not that deeper then the top of the tile, I can't image the vinyl planks 'dipping in' due to the slight imperfections of leveling.
This is the type of flooring I am looking to put in, since it looks nice, its waterproof, and solid choice for wear-and-tear. Thoughts?

Updates? What ever came of this? I'm super interested in hearing about what you did and the results.
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Long Tran
Member since 2021 · 5 posts · 1 vote
4y
Originally posted by @Kurt Brauner:
I just completed 800 sqft of LifeProof planks over 12" ceramic tile in a recent flip. I was apprehensive about not removing the tile but took the chance as worst case scenario we remove and relay the flooring. It was a very sturdy product with padding. The end result was the same as what we normally lay over concrete foundation, needless to say I was pleased with the outcome.

Hi Kurt!
how's the Life Proof planks you did over the tile holding up?
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