Installing Hardwood Floors Over Ceramic Tile

LESLIE: Calling in from Colorado with the number one questions asked on The Money Pit, about flooring, we’ve got Beverly. What can we do for you?

BEVERLY: Well, hopefully you can solve our problem. We’re in a debate over the fact that we’d like to take up the carpeting in our dining room but we have ceramic tile on our kitchen and hallway and we’d like to put down the hardwood floors that are so popular right now. And so …

TOM: On top of the ceramic tile?

BEVERLY: Well, that’s what my question is. We take up the carpeting …

TOM: OK, if you wanted to put down engineered hardwood, which is thinner than sort of standard hardwood, you could put an underlayment down – it’s sort of like a thin sheet of foam – and you can lay that on top of the ceramic. Now, did you say this is in the kitchen?

BEVERLY: That part is in the kitchen.

TOM: What you have to watch out for in the kitchen is you don’t want to lock in your dishwasher …

BEVERLY: Oh.

TOM: … because if you floor right up to the edge of it you’ll never be able to get it out. You know, as many – in as many years I’ve been giving that tip I got a call from my sister about six months ago. She was – her dishwasher had died and the guy from the appliance company came to put it in and said, “I can’t change it because it’s locked in by the ceramic tile floor.” The guy that she bought the house from had tiled right up to the edge of the dishwasher. We had to pull the countertop off to get the dishwasher out. So you’ve got to be careful about that sort of thing.

BEVERLY: Yeah, because we weren’t going to – we were asking if we could put that on top of the tile. But now, if we put it on top it is going to block the dishwasher.

TOM: Well, you could pull the dishwasher out and you could, if you have enough room for .another, say, half-inch of flooring you could just adjust the legs of the dishwasher.

BEVERLY: Oh.

TOM: Just want to make sure that you do that.

BEVERLY: Oh, yes. That’s wonderful.

TOM: Well, that’s why they’re adjustable. (Leslie chuckles)

BEVERLY: And then to make it even with the dining room he’d have to put down – after he brought up the carpeting he’d have to put down a board, right?

TOM: Or a saddle, yeah. Mm-hmm, that’s right.

BEVERLY: You call it a saddle. OK, I’ll write that down.

TOM: A saddle, yep.

LESLIE: Well, the saddle would be the transition between the dining room …

TOM: Between the two rooms.

LESLIE: Between the two rooms.

BEVERLY: Right. Right.

LESLIE: So you’re not stepping up or down.

BEVERLY: Right. OK. That’s wonderful. Thank you very much.

TOM: You’re welcome, Beverly. Thanks so much for calling 888-MONEY-PIT.