Sheila's Kitchen and Laundry room

[SheilaC]

I am wanting to tile my kitchen and laundry room and have a few issues I need help with. I tiled the family room which is next to the kitchen five years ago and I can't buy the matching tile anymore. It is a sunken family room so it won't be directly butting up to the kitchen floor but it will still be seen from the two stairs leading down to it. I figure that I need to buy a tile that is obviously different but I am not sure if this will look good or not so my question is if I have to re-tile my family room can I tile over the existing tile and if so do I need to do any special pre work? My other question is whether or not I can tile over the vinyl floor in the kitcehn. I am told there is a product that allows you to do this but I have always thought that this was not advisable. Thanks for the help. Sheila

[John Bridge]

Hi Sheila,

If the family room floor is well bonded you can tile over it. Use a very good modified thin set, making sure the existing tile is clean and grease free.

No to the vinyl. It's a very poor base for a permanent tile installation. Remove it.