My son is buying a 60 year old house (raised construction, not on a slab). The existing bathroom has a standard steel tub and the tub surround is 4" individual ceramic tiles. The walls of the bathroom are also covered up to about 5 ft. with the same tiles. The floor is sheet vinyl over an unknown subfloor. It's a small bath measuring about 5 ft. x 8 ft. He doesn't like the color of the wall tiles and would like to install ceramic tile on the floor. The walls above (and presumably behind) the tile are some kind of pressboard - looks a little like the stuff you see in mobile homes - with a shiny surface and a colored design. I think this stuff may have been glued to underlying sheetrock but I can't be sure. It seems like the best thing to do might be to tear it all out down to the studs and start over. Is there a problem with installing ceramic on the floor in this kind of house? If the new finished floor elevation is higher than before can I buy some type of toilet adapter/extension to reinstall the toilet?

 

best to rip out and re install - use CBU on the walls with a vabor barrier. for the floor you need to find out what kind of joists you have - minimum you need is 2X10 with 16 inch centers. need good solid 3/4 inch plywood over. You can use a mud floor with tiles on top. Yes toilet flange extensions can be used.

go to www.johnbridge.com and look though the ref material it will walk you through the whole process