Can i put ceramic tile over linoleum smooth floor?
I’ve worked for a flooring company for the last 17 years. The answer is that although yes you can put directly on top of the linoleum, it’s taking a chance that the job will fail later. I’m assuming that there is a wood floor under the linoleum. If that is the case, the problem is that there is too much flex in the floor. It’s not something that you can feel, but it will eventually cause conventional ceramic tile to crack or the grout to fail. The only way to be sure all your hard work will hold up is to but a cement board down first. The rule of thumb is that most residential installations will need 1/2″ cement board (Hardibacker, Durrock, WonderBoard are all brand names) to obtain the minimal total thickness in the floor of 1 1/8″. If you have a typical 3/4″ subfloor, 1/4″ board is therefore not thick enough. However, since you already have a linoleum floor down, there may have been a 1/4″ wood underlayment installed under that. If so, the 1/4″ cement board will work. Hopefully there
