Product Tips: Can you lay a PVC floor on top of ceramic tiles?

PVC Floor Coverings

Whether in tiles, planks or rolls, our floor coverings are suitable for every room of the home, including high footfall areas like living rooms and entrances, as well as wet areas, such as kitchens and bathrooms.

When do you need to level the substrate?

You do not always need to level the substrate when you are fitting PVC flooring on top of ceramic tiles.

Levelling is used to patch up and even out a highly damaged floor containing major defects. The technique involves applying a finishing compound (about 5 mm thick) across the entire floor to create a smooth and level surface.

The only case where levelling could prove useful is when the substrate has too many irregularities: 

• The grout joints are wider than 5 mm and deeper than 1 mm 
• The substrate is uneven: gaps of more than 7 mm when measured with a two-metre straightedge 

The ceramic tiles that I want to cover have small irregularities

If some of the tiles have irregularities that are too deep, we would advise you to go for Gerflor's ranges of rigid tiles and planks.

Many of our ranges of planks and tiles have the advantage that they can be installed on an uneven substrate whose joints are no wider than 6 mm. However, the substrate must be flat, dry, hard and clean. In addition, the difference that makes these planks and tiles stand out from the rest is their rigid design, which allows them to withstand the deformation that can be caused by the effects of time or even heat.

The tiles that I want to cover are clean and flat

If you are not concerned by the previous two cases and your current tiled floor is flat and does not have any uneven spots or irregularities, and the grout joints are no wider than 5 mm and no deeper than 1 mm, then your floor is compatible with all of Gerflor's ranges, without any risk of the floor moving or puncturing.

Feel free to check out our different ranges of vinyl rolls or tiles and planks. You are bound to find what you are looking for.