Wooden Floor over tiles for Kitchen and hall

psygnosis

Registered User
Messages
42
Hi,

When I moved into my house 18 months ago I put down tiles myself. Now I want to get rid of them I am not happy with how I laid them and also the cream colour of them is constantly getting dirty and needs to be cleaned.

So I am looking to get wooded floors put down over them. Reading on the web I see this is possible but people seem to have various opinions on this. I hear people saying just take up current tiles. But I cant do this as I have a bad back.

So I need recommendations for a person to put down floors for me and also what floors would people recommend for the hall and kitchen.
My sitting room has semi solid walnut floors which I like but would prefer a lighter colour in the kitchen and hall.

Thanks
 
Hopefully I will have a guy comming around to take a look he said he can replace the skirting as well what do you think
 
best to replace the skirting of you don't want scotias along the bottom of them

Maybe you should try oak. Hall has a lot of traffic so get something durable
 
sorry - i cant help you on this but i would like to know how you get on. i also have tiles and find them cold and badly put down. if the tiles arent level they can you put timber down on them or would they have to fixed first??? is it best to rip up the tiles and level floor again properly
 
I have white oak glued down in my hall, kitchen and sitting room. Quiet durable and vey easy keep clean.

Jac
 
hi there.

Proper way to install your wood floor would be to lift up the tiles with small kango drill (sounds daunting but its straight forward enough). Make sure all tile adhesive is off the concrete.

Then remove skirtings. Fit the new floor then new or existing skirtings to be refitted. I myself have done this for many customers . It is preferred not to have too many floors laid on top of each other. A common problem when having two flooring layers is the clearance on the external hall door opening into the hall as ideally you will want a mat inside the hall door also.

As regards what type of floor is suitable?? This is open to debate but your hall floor takes the most traffic and a durable floor is needed or you will be lifting it up again in another 18 months. What I would advise is a hardwearing 8-10 mm engineered laminate board running right through to the kitchen as I have done in my own house. Had solid floors but they got wrecked with the traffic. The only downside to laminates is that water can damage it but in truth all wood floors are prone to this damage it isnt just laminate floors.

You can now get v grooved laminates with textured finishes that look better than the real timber floors but take the traffic so much better. Another bonus being that these laminates can be refitted again eg, the bedrooms in ten yrs time. As regards the colours, well oak was the biggest seller 10 yrs ago and it still is now. Never goes out of fashion and on the floors I fit there are about 6 different shades of oak to choose from.

If you need any more info feel free to ask.
 
Some time ago I put a laminate floor on top of a tiled floor. It was quite uneven and needed quite a lot of levelling compound. If you're going ahead, make sure you don't using ordinary levelling compound as it will not adhere to the tiles. Instead you'll have to use an acrylic levelling compound. You have to buy a container of a mixing liquid with each bag of compound and it works out close to €50 per bag and container-about twice the cost of the regular stuff, from what I remember.

Like other posters, I went for an oak laminate. I got "AqualocPlus Driftwood Oak Effect" in B&Q. It's 12 or 13mm thick and is extremely hard wearing. I did a lot of research and figured it was the best one. I think it has a 20 year guarantee. The Aqualoc bit refers to it being moisture resistant. Like all flooring, it's not waterproof, as you'll discover as you read on. Full details are on the B&Q website. We put it in the kitchen/dining/living area of the house which is about 50m sq. When the floor was laid, it looked nice, warm and like real wood.

But I had a leaking pipe under the floor that I didn't know about and the fibre underlay I used soaked the water and, when we came home from holidays, the floor was damaged. The floorboards had started to warp and the absorbent underlay caused the leak to spread right across underneath the floor. It will have to be replaced and, fearing a future leak etc., I'm actually thinking of going back to a tiled floor again. That said, I'll go for warmer looking tiles than the previous horrific ones, if I do!

No wooden floor would have survived my mishap and if you're going ahead, I would recommend the flooring I mentioned, as an option for you. (If I do replace mine with another wooden floor , I'll use it again. I just can't make up my mind as I'm afraid the tiles will look colder than the wood and I'm trying to weigh that against the possibility of another leak in the future). If anyone wants to offer advice on this point, please feel free to do so.

The Aqualoc Plus is normally €23/m sq. but is currently reduced to €18 I think. I have no connection whatsoever with B&Q or any other DIY outlet.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.
 
Last edited:
guys - not sure if this is a possible solution or not!

Saw some really nice looking tiles last week with timber effect - couple of different shades to pick from. they come in about 2ft long tiles * 5 inches wide, similar to the laminates or semi solids. if these were laid correctly would this give you the best of both worlds - look of timber and durability of tiles. no idea of the prices i'm afraid
 
guys - not sure if this is a possible solution or not!

Saw some really nice looking tiles last week with timber effect - couple of different shades to pick from. they come in about 2ft long tiles * 5 inches wide, similar to the laminates or semi solids. if these were laid correctly would this give you the best of both worlds - look of timber and durability of tiles. no idea of the prices i'm afraid
Thanks patd. They sound interesting. Any idea where I might get a look at them? Did you see them in a DIY store?
 
Thanks for all the help guys, the person I was looking to do the work has not contacted me. So I have sent Willie a mail for a quote for the job it is 30-35 sq metres, I have asked him to take the tiles up also.
Hopefully wont cost the earth :) any one got any idea of how much to expect to get the tiles taken up and the floor re-laid with wood Laminate.
 
tiles to be taken up should cost very very little. once you get one up the rest just fly up. maybe 2.5k
 
Light coloured wooden floors show up dirt very easily.
I have laminate in bedroom and study and there is always dust on them, not dirt just dust but looks awful. i am also int in how you get on as i have a tiled area i would like to laminate eventually
 
guys - not sure if this is a possible solution or not!

Saw some really nice looking tiles last week with timber effect - couple of different shades to pick from. they come in about 2ft long tiles * 5 inches wide, similar to the laminates or semi solids. if these were laid correctly would this give you the best of both worlds - look of timber and durability of tiles. no idea of the prices i'm afraid
I saw them in 023 tiles in Cork yesterday. And in a range of different "woods." Exactly as you described. Decision time!!!!!!!!!
 
Back
Top