I recently purchased a house that and I'd like to install hardwoods in. There is currently ceramic tile covering 600sf of living space where I would prefer hardwoods to be. My floor guy told me the easiest thing to do would be to glue the 3/4" directly to the ceramic tile. Can this be done?

Would I be able to take the tile up and and glue the hardwoods directly to the slab? I'd prefer this as my ceiling height is only 7'6" and every bit of ceiling height I can get I'll take but I don't know how dangerous this is and need some advice. Thanks!

Dont do it! buy an eng. floor that has been designed to go on a slab. Solid 3/4 strip or plank floors are made to be nailed down to wooden subfloors. yea yea I know it can be done but that scenerio is not what I would suggest at all. And btw get another bid or two that idea is pretty hairbrained imho.

The "easiest" thing??? Not quite. And not advisable. Can you make it work? Maybe...but I wouldn't put up my money to do it!

First of all, you're already worried about height, so why buy the thickest flooring? Go with an engineered floor, 3/8" or 1/2", that will help you from the start. Then you can decide how to go about the install.

(a) Float......float it right over the ceramic....less messy, more foregiving, and more cost effective.
(b) Take up tile and glue to the slab.....lowers the height, eliminates possible bond issues between the tile and wood, and removes the risk of tile coming loose from the slab, therefore causing a failure.
(c) Last resort, glue to the tile directly.....and then, check with the adhesive manufacturer for their prep and installation requirements and FOLLOW THEM TO THE T!

you could use something like Kahrs/Tarkett click lock flooring with a vapour barrier. both are high quality engineered floors which do not require gluing and are only 15mm thick/they both do thinner ranges as well.

If you were to remove the tiles and the level the area using a self leveling screed this should only raise the floor by 8-10mm in height over the existing height of the tiles at present.

would any of you recommend taking up the tile? Feels like i should just leave it. Thanks!

I would always suggest tile removal. New flooring over tile always creates problems with most baseboard profiles and other things. Is it running into the kitchen? Think about appliance clearance as well. Transitioning to other floor coverings is another thought.

I won't glue to ceramic but I will float over it. The problem being wood moves more than ceramic so it may loosen the tiles if they are borderline adhered. No one can tell. What a mess that would be. I would not want to be the one liable for that nightmare.

Even floating over it is borderline IMHO. The ceramic tile will be encapsulated under the vapor retarder, yes you need a vapor retarder over the ceramic as it does breathe. Since it can't breathe anymore then what? Can you say effloressence........concrete moisture content will reach equillibrium within the thickness of the slab......salts driven to the surface of the setting material? Popping ceramic tiles as the setting material is eaten alive by high alkalininity!!

OK, enough already I'm scaring myself. LOL

The ideal application here, given the height restraints, are to remove the existing ceramics, and glue or float an engineered floor to the concrete base (after flattening of course).
However, if you choose the floating method, the ceramics are quite posiibly flat enough due to its installation process that no further levelling will be required.
I am not a fan of gluing to ceramics, but it can be done, scuff the surface first though to increase the ability of the adhesive to bond to it.