Are you toying with the idea of laying a new floor tiles (ปูกระเบื้อง which is the term in Thai) or floor covering over the old tiled floor, and you don’t know how to proceed? In today’s blog post, we will use the three most common flooring groups to explain what you should consider when redesigning the floor in your home.

Correctly Prepare The Tile Covering As The Substrate

Tenants, in particular, know the problem: In the beautiful, freshly painted apartment, you often come across an old, unsightly tiled floor. Removing this is usually not an option for the landlord. So hard coverings such as parquet or laminate and flexible design coverings are good alternatives to being laid on existing tiles. Proper preparation of the tile floor as a base is the alpha and omega for a beautiful and long-lasting result!

First, it is essential to note the height of the desired floor construction: The floor with the new covering must not be too high. Otherwise, the floor will be impaired, especially in the area of ​​the doors, but also in other places in the room. If there is not enough space between the opening door and the new flooring, removing old tiles is often the only option to ensure the correct height.

Ideally, the tile covering should be level and without any height differences between the individual slabs. It is therefore essential to check the evenness of the old covering with a measuring stick: For a perfect result, the unevenness of the tiles must not exceed 5 mm, and the height difference of the individual tiles must not exceed 2 mm. If you find cracks in the joints, this usually indicates missing expansion joints or faulty screed. You can easily seal the cracks with resin for more strength. You can compensate for the possible unevenness by using insulating underlays or by filling the end. Immediately before laying, the old tiles must be carefully cleaned and any dirt, dust, or other residues removed.

Laying Vinyl On Tiles

Adhesive vinyl, click vinyl, and PVC floors are suitable for laying on old tiling, but various preparations must be made in advance to avoid any risks. Flexible full vinyl is glued directly to the substrate, which promises outstanding stability and robustness. Before laying the adhesive vinyl, the substrate requires a stable and smooth layer of filler so that the structure of the tiles and the joints do not press through. As a rule, this floor covering in combination with the leveling layer reaches a maximum height of five to eight mm, so doors would only have to be sanded down minimally in an emergency.

In contrast to a pre-installed adhesive vinyl floor, click vinyl thicknesses 8 to 12 mm and is laid floating on a foam underlay or on an impact sound insulation underlay over the tiles. This means that a finished construction can reach a total height of over 15 mm and, for example, impair the opening of the doors in the room. Further disadvantages of the floating installation of vinyl on tiles include possibly pulling off the floor under the fluctuating humidity or large temperature differences and possible instability in uneven places in the sub-floor. When laying the vinyl, you also have to think about the expansion joints because elastic floor coverings tend to expand and can bulge or even tear without adequate clearance. A little tip: If you should decide against an insulating underlay when laying floating vinyl, you can place a thin PE film about 0.2 millimeters thick on the tile covering after leveling the sub-floor for more stability.