Skimming Over A Kitchen Tile Countertop

atari

Has anyone done this before?

Don't want to pull the 60's tile off........thinking about skimming over it (prob cement) or maybe laying more tile.

dayspring

Why would you not remove the old tile?, why not remove the entire countertop and install a new one?

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ApgarNJ

yeah. it'll be less labor intensive to just pull the entire thing off and then have new tops put on. concrete ones are getting even more popular now and cheaper than granite. they form them offsite now, so not a real mess on the finished job anymore.

wackman

I had a rental that needed new kitchen tile, but I didn't want to put much time or money into it, so I just used construction adhesive and glued down a piece of 1/4" tile backer and layed new tile. Took all of an hour to have it tile ready. Still looks good today. You need to have nice flat tile to start with. That's how I put all my nosings on also. They make a liquid nails meant for stones and ceramics. Good luck.

Tileman Rich

Yea It can be done but ! Why not do it right. Take the old out and install new. I hate it when people just want to cover it up. Someone sometime is going to have to fix it right. Cheap and fast is not always the best.

And we wonder why contractors have such a bad name.

Floorwizard

I agree with Rich on this one.

If you do go over the top, chances are, a loose tile below will result from a loose tile above.

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wackman

I think, in the interest of productivity, you should look at what you're working on and decide what's the best route. Is the old tile structurally sound and just ugly? Or is it actually loose and weak?

If someone has a good vinyl floor in the kitchen but wants tile would you get a steamer and a scraper and then sand it back to wood or at some point would you decide that it won't actually negatively impact the project to cover over the glue, or felt remnant, or if you're like me just lay new 1/4" tile backer underlayment over the vinyl, screwed and glued and get on with business. The fast way is not always the cheap, bad way. Often it's the fast, smart, save the customer money on unnecessary labor, way.

New methods and technologies come along all the time. Would you still use shiplap instead of ply or osb? Would you use lath instead of gyp? Would you consider framing a house with a hammer? That's the way they used to do it. Things change. New, faster, better ways have come along and are now accepted as the best way.

My advice is, be smart, think it through and be innovative without compromising quality or ethics. If you can't evolve you'll get left behind. Just my 2 cents.

dayspring

I do agree Wackman. we must be innovative and also never stuck in the old way. Many products have come our way that have brought changes in our industry, However, basics remain in most cases. Prep can take more labor than the actual execution of a project. Indeed we must look for the less labor extensive way as long as we don't sacrifice quality in our work. In this case, myself, I would just remove the entire top and replace it. If it was mine it wouldn't be tile to start with much less replaced with tile. But, hey, everybody has their own way and taste. Whatever, like Wackman said, be smart, if you are the owner you should always think re-sale value even if you don't plan to sell, who knows?

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415moto

if the substrate is solid, it can be gone over with, and lay new material. but it really depends on the substrate and the case/situation.

sometimes a shortcut like that can cause other problems, like maybe fitting a sink, plumbing, exposed edges, etc

like the lino case....if the lino is solid and no issues like peeling or lift off, then there is no reason you cant CBU over it..or in many cases mud, then lay your tile. but maybe you have cement under the lino and you have cabinets in place,etc (here on the west, theres rarely expansion issues with slab on grade issues like cracks) so maybe you want to remove the lino to lay right onto the cement. case by case.


with this case, if you skim it, your going to want to put a stable substrate like CBU. then lay on top...thats going to be pretty thick...honestly, its one day tops for a single guy to break and demo an average kitchen. then new ply and mud or cbu if you want for new tile. in this case, id say demo and start new. that way your newest finish/tile isnt relying on so many substrates (OG ply + OG mud +OG thinset + OG tile + new skim + new cbu + new thinset) to stay stable and not affect the new tile.

my 2 cents.