Hi,

I am in the process of remodeling my house and replacing all flooring (carpet and ceramic tile) with engineered hardwood. We have tried to rip up the ceramic tile, and even with a rented floor tool that was supposed to be able to take it up, its simply not wanting to leave the house! Anyway, is there anyway to lay the wood over the ceramic? What installation methods would be recommended (even if not necessary standard.) The tile sits on a concrete slab.

Thanks,
Elliot

Yes you can, but I would not advise doing that. To get a good looking job all the flooring should be at one height. You can hire the demo out if necessary.

How many sq.ft. and what kind of tool did you rent?

Thanks for the quick response! We were planning on floating the transition to ensure the evenness of the 2 subfloors. We were also planning on using Bostik Best urethane-based glue on the ceramic. Would you agree with that?

i forget to mention this in my original post, hence your concern about height. We were planning on laying 1/4 plywood over the slab where the carpet was to get to the height of the existing tile, and then floating at the seems for any height differences, although they will be minimal once the plywood is down.

Bad idea to put ¼ plywood over the concrete, unless you cut it up and glue it down just as you would, the wood flooring. Have you priced Bostik's BEST at a 45sq.ft. per gal. spread rate?

¼" plywood is usually AC finish grade, never seen CDX. It is 3 times the cost of 3/8" or ½" CDX.


You would be better off, pumping in some ARDEX K-15 self leveler.

yes, we are planning on glueing and fastening the 1/4" plywood (luan) to the concrete. We are just using construction adhesive for the plywood to concrete connection, but bostiks for the hardwood to ceramic and hardwood to plywood connection.

I think that would be like throwing your money away Elliot. Instead, use that money and subcontract out the tile demolition.

Exactly!