Hi everyone,

I recently moved into an older house that has 2 different flooring in the first floor (black ceramic tile and cherry hardwood floor). I’m not a fan of any of those colours and I know that it would be quite expensive to remove them and replace them with something different, hence, I’m considering installing laminate floor on top of them.

The hardwood floor is mostly even (it had some squeaks here in there but I plan to fix them first), you can only feel the small edge between each hardwood piece. The ceramic tile is also even without any issues.

The transition from hardwood floor to ceramic tile does have a small height difference but it’s really small (like 2 fingernails few mms).

Has anyone done this before ? Any advice on this ? Should I consider sanding or doing any type of preparation to the ceramic tile or the hardwood floor ?

Ant help would be really appreciated!

George




Ceramic tile

Cherry hardwood floor

Transition between ceramic tile and hardwood floor
!

 

First I would say that you must be crazy to want to cover up those floors with... (gasp)... laminate. But to each his own.

Adding that thickness will mean your dishwasher will probably be trapped in there, and if you would happen to have a leak, that wouldn't be good... so you would want to check and see if the dishwasher legs can be lowered enough (3/8" or so) to put the laminate floor fully under the dishwasher, assuming it might still fit after the laminate raises it.

Laminate requires a very flat floor, so if you haven't laid a 78" level on the floor and moved it around to all areas, turned it perpendicular and diagonal, and checked for any humps or dips on the entire floor, (and through the transitions between rooms) that would be your first step. You would also need to realize that all the baseshoe trim would need to get pulled, and then it would go back down after the laminate is in.

Jambs and casing like you see in the last photo would need to be undercut with a jamb saw, because the laminate slides under the jamb and casing and so there would be no going back- if someone wanted to remove that floor someday, they would really cuss you.

Just a few things to think about. You would also likely want your flooring to have a pad under it (or integrated into the flooring) and you might consider something waterproof, or maybe even an LVT or LVP rather than just a laminate.

 

I have agree with the poster on the flooring. That pattern would drive me nuts. But consider using flexible vinyl flooring instead. They can take minor unevenness and are thinner.

 

IDK, I think both floors are better than krappy laminates!

 

laminates aren't all crappy. There are some decent stuff out there. It all depends on how and where your using it.

 

The current flooring might last 50 years. Laminate 3-5 years. And if you decide to sell the house, laminate will lower the value by thousands. Why not just put down some area rugs?

 

I'll jump on the bandwagon, especially when it comes to the wood flooring. I think it would be a big mistake to cover it.

As for the tile, if you don't like it rip it up and replace it with either wood or new tiles.

 

Through the years, I have removed thousands of yards of other flooring put down over wood and tile. Sometimes the original floor can be saved, sometimes it can't. On average,when buyers are looking for a house, the two things they want are ceramic and wood. When you put laminate in a house, you can lower the value of it by thousands of dollars. Laminates work good in rentals, because they are cheap and easy to tear out. Even the best laminates cheapen the look of a house.
The wood floors in my house were installed when the house was built in 1910 and they should look good for another 100 years if treated right.