My home is 10 years old and has a concrete slab for foundation type in Houston, Texas. The kitchen area has existing ceramic tiles and the other adjacent rooms have carpeting. The contractor indicated that they could simply roughen the ceramic tiles in the kitchen and place the engineered wood flooring over them. When walking over parts of the kitchen ceramic floor a hollow sound can be heard at times; however, no tiles or grout are moving. My thoughts would be to remove the ceramic tiles and prep the concrete as required for proper wood floor installation. What is the industry best practice in this situation? Good web site.

Industry standards say I should charge accordingly to remove the tile. Which means over $4 per foot to remove ceramics and haul off the debris and disposal.

Some manufacturers of engineered hardwoods, state in there installation specs, that ceramic tile is OK to install over, as long as the surface is abraded, and a grout line embossment, & skimcoat, if they are wider then ¼"

The tiles plane needs to be flat. No lips or valleys.

I have installed 2 over existing ceramic, because removal of the ceramic, was not in their budget, and they could get by with the added height.


Check with the flooring manufacturer and ask them for subfloor specs and especially ceramic tile. The manufacturer has the final say, and like said before, some say it is OK to go over ceramic with their product, as long as it is sound, without crumbling grout or cracked out/loose tiles.

If cost can be handled, remove the tile. Then you have two choices, have a glue down wood installed, or for a quieter floor, have a 3/4" plywood nailed to the concrete and install the wood over that. It will have a nice "softer" feel to walk on also. Good luck!

KEEP The tile is another option.