Tiling over existing sound ceramic floor tiles

[Ant74]

Hi there all, my first posting on this forum

Just a quick bit of advice, I have a customer who has a conservatory (2 years old) and she wants the floor tiles changed, i have never had to tile over existing ceramics before but someone mentioned to me i would need to prep the floor with a epoxy primer?

The tiled area is 14' x 10 ' and tiles are 12x12's absolutley sound flat surface, just customer doesnt like the colour (mind you they are not modern looking!)

any advice would be appreciated.

cheers

[hillhead]

Welcome Ant,
most guys would rip the lot up,but if they are sound then i'd sure go over them.
def prime well and use a flexi adhesive,i prefer mapei which grips really well to the tiles.

[Turkish]

Give the existing tiles a good scrub with sugarsoap, allow to dry, then prime with a good primer something like SBR then away you go. Try not to match up the grout lines of the new tiles with the ones underneath. Flexi adhesive and grout.

Oh, and welcome by the way!

Turkish

[Ant74]

Thanks for the replies guys.

The tiles being laid are much larger than the existing ones so grout lines will be off set anyway.

I will let you know how it goes!

[GazTech]

Welcome to the forums Ant, good luck...no need for epoxy primer by the way........Gaz

[CalMac]

Hi,

I have a similar situation to the one above and would like to clarify a couple of things before I do the job.

Tiling onto existing ceramic tiles with polished porcelain on the floor of a kitchen.

1. Do I need to prime this or not? As it looks from above a couple of you think you should and others do not as long as it is cleaned well 1st.

2. Is a polished porcelain tile a good idea for a kitchen anyway as from previous threads that I have read this may be a bit dangerous due to slipping risks!

Thanks for any help!!

Cheers!

[Fekin]

It's always best to wash down then prime really.

I wouldn't like polished porcelain in my kitchen, but if a customer wanted them laying after I told them they may break their neck then that's their problem

[CalMac]

Thanks for the help Fekin, I'll advise the customer of the risks and if they still want to go ahead then ok by me.....

[bigcraw]

Clean floor, use sbr and cement slurry then use flexible adhesive before slurry dries.Will stick like sh#t to the proverbial blanket

[Ant74]

I ripped up all the tiles in the end, after a careful examination there was hollow sounds where we moved the funiture and rugs etc, so all came up and i floor levelled and then new tiles went down a treat.

I have posted pics in the photo section.

cheers for the help anyway.

[sWe]

A bit late probably, but I just want to say this:

Epoxy primer is mainly used on surfaces with poor surface strength, or surfaces which are very unabsorbant, such as metal, certain plastics, and the densest grades of porcelain. For most normal situations, there are cheaper, less hazardous options.

[burncross]

why do you need to use flexi adhesive on a existing tiled surface with concrete sub-floor?