Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - hardwood floor over ceramic

I want to install Bruce engineered hardwood floor(7.5 wide x 34 planks). Install will take place over ceramic and linoleum. Bruce says ok to glue down but I am leary. both floors are solid and level. comments please?

Hello Again Kevin!

You won't find Bruce or any other hardwood manufacturer recommending a gluedown to any type of ceramic tile. I think you're gonna have to sway the wife's requests on this one. As another note I recall doing work for a guy that thought floating floors were too soft or sounded hollow. After explaining to him a wide Longstrip type floor is much harder to glue down and the cost would be much higher he went along with the floater.

Upon completion it wasn't as he expected. It was actually the showroom he went to that felt bad. Maybe they used the wrong underlayment or the subfloor was squishy. Another thing; laminate and engineered floating floors have an entirely different feels under foot. One is flimsy and the other more on the firm side with the exception of the thinner Bruce product.

Good Luck and Happy Holidays:)

thanks for response---i think you are recommending floating installation---I am concerned that floor will give and be squishy--mainly over the ceramic--is there a certain foam or other underlayment used with floating installation that is best. i definetly don't want the floor to have a "loose" feel to it???
P.S.--glad i found this site!!

I recommend listening to hardwood guy. He is the only one that consistently gives correct information.

I find the following disadvantages of floating floors. You experience slight verticle movement. If you watch someone walk across the floor (you have to lay on the floor to see) you will actually see the floor go up and down where they step, this may result in some unexpected noise. For example as someone else posted their vapor barrier plastic crinkled under the pad. It takes patience during the installation, especially for a DIY's to get the seams tight. It takes just the right amount of glue, to much and you get glue lock and the planks will not go together, to little and they may come back apart in the future.

An advantage to a floating floor is visually it looks perfectly flat. When you glue all the panels together it is one big sheet, not individual panels anymore. Imagine it like a giant sheet of plywood with the same flexible characteristics.

If I had my choice of busting up the ceramic tile and glueing or stapeling the new hardwood floor it would depend on the size of the area. Under 200ft^2 I would bust it up. Over 200ft^2 I would float hardwood over the tile. Like I said take hardwood guy suggestion and run with it!!!

As far as a squishy feeling I do not have any problems with the feel of a floating hardwood floor.

Personally, if the ceramic is down and not popping off the concrete. I have no problem with embossing the grout lines with Ardex and going over the ceramic. Especially when the home owners see that it is going to cost more to remove then to install the hardwood.

Have you even removed C-tile and modified thinset?

Proper ceramic installation, is the same as a concrete subfloor and should be handled as such.

Moisture testing with a calcium chloride test should span grout joints. High vapor emissions will be detected in the same fashion as if it were a exposed concrete surface.

Thanks Perry,

Appreciate the info---dumb question--What is ardex?---haven't heard of it before?---I used to own an equipment rental store--Well aware of difficulty in removing ceramic tile--made a killing on renting out tile remover--was consistently kept extra days by customers--thanks for your response

Ardex.com

Look for SD-F Feather Finish.