How to lay vinyl flooring (glue-down or click) over tiles

What you need

• Tape measure and pencil
• 2 m straightedge or long spirit level
• Utility knife with new blades and a metal square
• Jigsaw or fine hand saw
• 8 mm spacers
• Rubber mallet and tapping block
• Notched trowel (for glue-down)
• Click or glue-down vinyl with a wear layer of 0.3 mm or more (Quick-Step Livyn, Tarkett, Gerflor, Artens)
• Levelling compound or fine mortar for grout lines
• Substrate primer, if using adhesive
• Vinyl adhesive such as Mapei Ultrabond Eco V4SP or Bostik
• 1.5 mm underlay for click vinyl, if the manufacturer specifies it
• Threshold strips and new skirting board

Step by step

1. 1

   Measure and buy with a margin

   Measure the room and multiply length by width. Add 5-10 % for cuts. Order one extra box for repairs. Acclimatise the boxes in the room for 48 hours, laid flat and unopened.

2. 2

   Check the tiles

   Tap the tiles and chip out any that sound hollow or are loose. Check with a 2 m straightedge that there are no dips of more than 3 mm.

3. 3

   Clean and degrease

   Vacuum, mop with a degreaser and let it dry. Remove traces of wax, silicone and paint. The floor must be dry, clean and firm.

4. 4

   Fill the grout lines

   With a trowel, spread levelling compound over all the tiles in a coat of 1-2 mm, pressing it into the grout lines. Leave it to dry as the packaging says and sand lightly.

5. 5

   Remove the skirting board

   Take it off with a thin pry bar and a wooden block, without breaking it. Mark the pieces in the order they come off if you are going to reuse them.

6. 6

   Mark the guide line and set out

   Measure the width of the room and work out that the last row will not be narrower than 5 cm. If it comes out narrow, cut the first row down to balance it. Mark a guide line.

7. 7

   Lay the first row

   Start from a corner, with the tongue side towards the wall and 8 mm spacers. For click, angle the plank at 20-30 degrees and lower it until it clicks. For glue-down, spread a strip with the notched trowel and lay the plank as soon as the adhesive is tacky to the touch.

8. 8

   Carry on with the rows

   Stagger the end joints, with an offset of at least 30 cm between rows. Tap gently with the mallet and block to close the joint. Cut with the knife by scoring and snapping, or with the jigsaw.

9. 9

   Go round doors and pipes

   For door frames, cut an offcut of plank as a height template and trim the frame so the vinyl slides underneath. For pipes, drill a hole 16 mm larger than the pipe.

10. 10

    Finish and check

    For glue-down, go over it with a 50 kg roller. Remove the spacers and fit new skirting board, screwed or glued to the wall, not to the vinyl. Fit threshold strips at the doors. Do not move heavy furniture in for 24 hours.

Click or glue-down vinyl: which to choose for a tiled floor

Vinyl is sold in two systems. Click (or floating) is rigid planks with tongue-and-groove edges that lock into one another and are not stuck to the floor. Glue-down is flexible sheets or planks stuck with adhesive or with their own adhesive backing. Both look good. The difference lies in the state of the floor underneath.

Click copes better with a floor that is not perfect, because its rigid core (SPC or rigid) hides small differences. It goes down without glue, can be taken up again and is the usual choice in flat refurbishments. Glue-down needs a very smooth base, because any relief from the grout lines will show through over time, but it is thinner and does not raise the floor height.

Look at the thickness too. Click at 4-6 mm raises the floor and means trimming the doors; glue-down at 2-3 mm barely changes it. Brands such as Quick-Step Livyn, Tarkett, Gerflor, Pergo or the Artens range at Leroy Merlin cover both systems.

How to prepare the tiles before laying vinyl

Preparation decides the result. If the tile is firm, clean and has no gaps, you can lay over it without hacking anything up. Tap the tiles with your knuckles: any that sound hollow or are loose should be chipped out, removed and filled with mortar. Vinyl over a loose tile marks and sinks.

Measure the grout lines. If they are wider than 3-4 mm or deeper than 1-2 mm, they will show through the vinyl, especially with glue-down. Fill them with levelling compound or fine mortar in a thin coat, running the trowel at 45 degrees and sanding afterwards. Check flatness with a 2 m straightedge: there should be no dips of more than 3 mm.

Clean thoroughly with a degreaser, remove wax and silicone, and vacuum. If the flat has damp (rising damp on ground floors), fix the cause first: see how to get rid of damp on a wall. Where there is damp coming up from the screed, glue-down vinyl lifts.

Common mistakes when laying vinyl

• Not letting the vinyl acclimatise. Keep it in the room for 48 hours at room temperature so it settles. If you lay it cold or straight off the lorry, it expands and lifts.
• Gluing onto a dirty or waxed floor. The adhesive will not grip and the planks lift at the edges.
• Forgetting the expansion gap. Vinyl moves with temperature. Leave 5-8 mm along walls and obstacles, or it lifts in summer.
• Starting without a guide line. If the first row is crooked, all the others will be too. Mark a line parallel to the longest, most visible wall.
• Buying exactly the amount you need. Buy 5-10 % extra for cuts and mistakes, and keep a box from the same batch for future repairs.
• Cutting in one go. With a utility knife you make several shallow cuts and then snap the plank; one deep cut breaks it. Mark with the decorative face up and use a metal rule.

When to call a professional and what it costs

A vinyl floor in a bedroom or living room without big problems is a weekend job. Ask for help when the base floor is badly uneven, tiles have to be chipped out, the hallway is long and has doors, there is damp, or you need to fit around skirting boards and threshold strips in several rooms.

At Manitas Costa, floating flooring costs €10-15 per m² in labour, which is the closest rate for click vinyl. Glue-down vinyl, with levelling and substrate preparation, we quote after seeing the floor, and a builder's hour is €30-40 if grout lines need filling. So a 20 m² room in click costs about €200-300 for laying, without materials, skirting board or trimming the doors.

If doors need trimming, the adjustment costs €40-70. More information at carpenter at home, how much a carpenter costs and the guide on a door rubbing on the floor. If you prefer laminate, see how to lay laminate flooring. In Valencia and Alicante we work from carpenter in Valencia and carpenter in Alicante.

Vinyl on the coast: heat, sun and holiday homes

In Alicante, Torrevieja or Benidorm, direct sun through a glazed-in terrace or a big window can heat the floor to above 40 degrees, and the vinyl expands more than expected. Leave the 8 mm perimeter gap in rooms with a lot of sun and do not fix very heavy furniture to the floor. Vinyl under large windows without curtains can fade over the years.

In second homes, which spend months closed up with high ambient humidity, it is a good option: vinyl does not swell with water the way laminate does, which is why it is so common in bathrooms and kitchens. Choose a vinyl with a rigid core and a wear layer of at least 0.3 mm. If you have underfloor heating, check on the data sheet that the manufacturer allows it, and respect the maximum surface temperature given. In buildings with a comunidad (residents' association), click sounds more hollow underfoot: consider an acoustic underlay beneath the planks and check the statutes in case they limit the type of flooring.