vinyl under porcelain?

[countrygirl]

Hello,

I have a question about tile. I pulled up the carpet and I see that I have several cracks in my slab that are about 1/8 inch wide and run from the back to the front of the house in several places. There are smaller cracks that run the other way to. I have old (1983) sheet vinyl flooring in my kitchen and baths.

The installer wants to tile over the existing sheet vinyl and put new sheet vinyl over the concrete and then lay tile over it as well. He says that this will help prevent the tile from cracking. Is this what I should have him do?

Also, I am sensitive to chemicals so will the VOC off gasing from the new vinyl tile be eliminated when the porcelain is installed over it?

Thanks,

Christy

[ceramictec]

Hi Christy,

pardon my French,
but that is about the most half ass'ed way I have ever heard of
fixing cracks in a slab before doing tile. I would find another tile installer.

by any chance are you in Florida ?

your best way to do it is to remove the old vinyl and install either a Noble - CIS,
Custom Building Products - Fracture Free or a Anti-Fracture Membrane like ProtectoWrap.

there is no cheap way around it like this installer is telling you.
hopefully he wont tell you about using tar paper.

(edit): I see from your other threads your are in Baton Rouge.
is this still the same floor you were doing Wood looking plank tile on ?

[Tileworks]

The installer wants to tile over the existing sheet vinyl and put new sheet vinyl over the concrete and then lay tile over it as well. He says that this will help prevent the tile from cracking. Is this what I should have him do?

Um... NO!

Every effort should be made to remove the sheet vinyl. The installer (perhaps another installer) should use a Noble product or Schluter Ditra to isolate the tile from the cracks.

- Bob