Tiling over tile??

[bluekingfisher]

Afternoon,

I am soon to take on the ardious task of bathroom renovation.

I am interested to know if I can tile over the existing floor tiles. The room is an ensuite and only about 3m x 2m. The existing floor tiles are the original and professionally layed when the house was built 20 years ago. They are of the glazed variety and in good condition. I have no idea yet what the subfloor is. If they can be tiled over what sort of adhesive could I use. If this is not possible what would be the best way to go about it??

I assume lifting the old tiles would require me to re level the floor by removing all the old adhesive and grout, what would be the best way to do this?

I noticed that the original tyler has cut the tiles which are 12" x 12" around the toilet bowl. To avoid this awkward and skilled job could I lay tiles then the bowl on top? The waste from the toilet it a straight fit and so imagined the tiles were cut around the bowl so it wouldn't be too high for the waste out pipe. Is there suitable flexible connectors to solve this issue should it arise.

A lot of questions there but would appreciate the way to go.

Many thanks

David

 

[tilerman]

Hi David, when ever possible i take up old tiles. If i am confident the old tiles are sound and not loose i will tile over existing tiles. On walls i use BAL Mosaic Fix, not cheap, but a superb adhesive. This adhesive would also be fine to use for the job in question. I would definately remove the toilet, tile floor and then re fit the loo. Look much better especially if you are not confident in getting a neat cut. Be sure to clean existing floor tiles with something like sugar soap and leave to dry before re tiling. Hope that helps.

 

[Richard C]

It’s not good practice & is generally frowned upon; I’ve occasionally tiled over wall tiles but only on individual walls where trying to remove what’s already there may create more problems that it’s worth. Providing it’s done properly the end result is fine, if not creating a major time bomb/headache for some poor soul in the distant future which I always feel guilty about!

I have, however, never contemplated nor would advise tiling over floor tiles; it’s not worth it no matter how well they appear to be fixed or how attractive it may seem. If it goes horribly wrong, think about how much MORE hassle & expense your going to have ripping it all up & starting again. Best rip it up it now, even if it means laying a new WBP ply floor if you have to; the cost now is insignificant compared to the cost if it all goes wrong.

Tile the floor first & then fit your sanitary ware but allow for any pipes etc. flexible isolators should take care of any problems there & a “Multiquick” connector should take care of any minor misalignment with the bog.

 

[bluekingfisher]

Thanks Tilerman, I shall look at doing it that way, my only concern would be the height of the new toilet, in effect it would be two tiles high and may be problematic for re hook up to waste pipe. How would you get round this? my waste pipe comes straight out of the wall rather than up from the floor

 

[tictic]

if you are renovation the "whole" bathroom why not the "floor"also??

lift it up, reboard and do it right mate.

 

[bluekingfisher]

Thanks gents, as appealing as it is to tile over what exists, long term lifting it seems the right option, albeit more arduos, but as mentioned, if it goes belly uphaving tolift two sets would be a nightmare.

Thanks for the advice, good luck

 

[n-hatton]

David.


I'm no expert on bathroom plumbing and waste; my most hated of jobs

Your remaining concern seems to be rasing the toilet pan too high to then reconenct to the soil\waste pipe? I'm sure you can get short straight-through connectors that are slightly off-set. You simply slide it on and rotate it around so the offset is vertical or horizontal to line-up with the pan.

Check offsets in below url

http://www.mcalpineplumbing.com/productlist.asp