When completing a tiling project, many of us of are looking for a good finish as well as ease and speed of tiling. With that in mind, many customers after ask us, ‘can you tile over tiles?’ In this article we’ll answer that question as well as addressing both the pros and cons of tiling over tiles.
Can You Tile Over Tiles?
Put simply, yes, you can tile over tiles. Of course, tiling over tiles can save a large amount of time as you don’t need to pull off the existing tiles. However, there are numerous pros and cons to tiling over tiles that you should consider before doing so.
Benefits of Tiling Over Tiles
Time Saving
As we’ve already pointed out, tiling over your existing tiles is a great time saver. Pulling off old tiling can be a time-consuming, laborious job. Therefore, tiling over your existing time allows you to cut back on time and effort, a bonus if you want a quick interior refresh.
Avoid (Some) Mess
Pulling off old tiles can be a messy task meaning that tiling over your existing tiles could save you a lot of elbow grease. It also prevents you damaging your bathroom in the process of removing old tiles.
Cost-Effective
Whether you’re paying someone to retile your bathroom or doing it yourself, tiling over your existing tiles can be a money-saver due to either labour or equipment hire charges. Removing existing tiles can also cause damage to your plaster, therefore saving on potential re-plastering charges.
So far so good on tiling over your existing tiles. Before you start retiling, let’s look at the cons.
Cons of Tiling Over Tiles
Double The Depth
It goes without saying that tiling over your existing tiles will double the depth of your wall or flooring. This can be a particular problem when opening doors, fitting fixtures and general look and feel of the room. It can also cause problems when you enter the room as floor height will change between say your bathroom and connecting room, causing a trip hazard and general unpolished finish.
Too Heavy To Handle
One other scenario to mention when tiling over tiles, is how much additional weight you will add to your existing substrate. For example, tiling on top of an already tiled surface and adding weight to something like plasterboard, which can only take a certain weight per m2, would be overweight.
Tiling Problems
If you’ve got 99 problems with your existing tiles then guess what? Tiling over your tiles will not solve a single one of them.
If tiles are loose or uneven then your new ones will be too. This can then result in you needing further repairs in a short time period which then incurs further costs and time, not to mention ruining your supposed dream bathroom or kitchen.
Dream Bathroom or Kitchen Nightmares?
Of course, we all want our new tiles to look the part but sadly tiling over existing tiles can create an unfinished appearance. Not to mention tile over tile can be noticeable around your door frames, fittings and coving – not the best look.
The Verdict
So can you tile over tiles and should you?
While tiling over existing tiles can help to save you time and money, as a leading tile retailer we would not recommend it. Tiling over tiles can cause problems with the look, feel and safety of your tiles which in turn can cost you more in the long run. And, after all, if you’re buying brand new tiles you want to show them off to perfection. Therefore, we would instead recommend tiling over a smooth, flat and clean surface. For more information on laying floor and wall tiles, read our tile fixing guides. Or, read our previous article; ‘can you tile over a brick wall?’
Please note: this is only a guide, you should always take advice from a fully qualified tiler
