Can I Lay Ceramic Tile Over Asbestos Tile

Installing ceramic or porcelain tile over asbestos tile.

Can i lay ceramic tile over asbestos tile. It is easier to install right over outdated ceramic tile than it is to remove it. Preparing the area is necessary to ensure the new floor covering bonds well. Taking out ceramic tile is dirty process that sends broken chips and concrete dust flying throughout the house. That said it can be difficult to get a level surface for the new floor especially if the old tiles have chipped away.

It avoids the time consuming messy tear out process. It s not the asbestos that s the issue but instead the slick surface that will cause your tile job to fail. Press the tile onto the floor. Alternately you can hire an asbestos removal company to safely remove all the flooring.

However as a favor to future owners of your house make some note of the fact that asbestos tiles are under the new flooring. Installing ceramic tile over asbestos is possible with the proper preparation. Take care to choose a tile whose thickness is not going to create a problem and choose a tile that is rated for floor use. Installing over existing vinyl.

You can tile directly over asbestos with new tile including ceramic tile. According to the tile doctor s website asbestos tile cannot be removed by anyone who is not a professional. However if you can t remove the old surface or otherwise decide to install over it lay a backer board with thin set over the old surface to serve as your new subfloor material. The best solution in this circumstance is to cover over the asbestos flooring with a thin layer of plywood underlayment before putting down cement board and ceramic tile.

This is trickier as you can t simply slap mortar down on top of old asbestos tile put down the new tile and expect a good result. Use a portland cement based adhesive to adhere the new tiles to the old. Grind them down with a grinder. However covering it with ceramic tile is legal.

That way no one will be endangered years from now when they start to rip up the new flooring and find asbestos tiles beneath. In many cases installing a new floor over the tiles encapsulates the asbestos fibers and is an acceptable way to manage the material. It is set into a bed of thin set that hardens like concrete and the tile itself shatters like glass during removal. Over time asphalt which was a main ingredient in asbestos tiles can degrade and cause the tiles to look grimy or discolored in spots.

You can lay new ceramic tile right over the old using the prep techniques we show here. Lay a level on the old tile and mark any high spots. Some of the flooring tiles have come off and you see.