A common practice among Singaporean homeowners, overlaying tiles is the process of laying new tiles on top of existing tiles or vinyl flooring. It is a considerably cheaper alternative to a full renovation as no hacking is required.
For a full flooring renovation, hacking is required to remove the existing tiles. For wet areas such as kitchens and bathrooms, a thin layer of water proofing is also required to prevent water damages and unwanted water leakages. Cement screed needs to be applied for uneven surfaces to create a smooth and flat cement foundation for the new tiles to be installed on.
Opting for overlaying tiles saves you the time and trouble of hacking, water proofing and cement screed services as the existing tiles do not have to be removed. We recommend overlaying tiles if your existing floor is in good and suitable condition. The existing tiles should not have any gaps, cracks and should not be hollow as these defects would lead to the overlaid tiles to pop in the future. If your tiles pop, it is costly to repair it as you have to hack the tiles and install new tiles.
Overlaying tiles also increases the height of your floors because of the additional thickness of the new tiles being overlaid on your existing floor. This should taken into consideration before opting for overlay. Though the increase in height is not noticeable, do ensure that there is enough space between the floor and the bottom edge of the door.
If your existing flooring was poorly installed and you opt for tile overlay, you may have uneven overlay tile surfaces due to the poor foundation. In such cases, we do not recommend overlaying tiles.
To assess whether your tiles are suitable, please do not hesitate to contact us here or drop us a call/message on +65 9632 3845
Our team of dedicated and experienced tilers are ready to provide a free on-site assessment to check the suitability of your existing tiles for overlay.
We are a direct flooring and tiling contractor in Singapore and we are transparent with our pricing. For our full direct price list, please click here.
Cheers, Tiling by Meng
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