[sagechickie]

Hi all. I want to install ceramic tile on a bathroom floor but i'm not planning to remove the vanity. The existing flooring is sheet vinyl. i will have to remove that and put down some underlayment for tile. Will this be OK to not remove the vanity, or should i make the effort to move the vanity?

 

[RegeSullivan]

You will need to remove the sheet vinyl. You can tile around the vanity but I would remove it so you would have an option to replace it with a smaller vanity or a pedestal sink in the future. I helped a buddy with new tile in a powder room where he left the old vanity in knowing he would replace it in a few weeks when the new "bigger" vanity was delivered. Well the new vanity was bigger but the toe kick was 2" deeper. I was able to trim it out so it looked like the toe kick was not so deep but it never looked right to me.

Rege

 

[Ron6519]

Not removing the vanity is a mistake. It's a typical homeowner short sighted endeavor.
It is doubtful you can just lay tile on the floor you have in place. You need to know that the subfloor needs to be at least 1 1/8" thick to support tile. On top of that I would recommend a backerboard to adhere the tile to. You can use Ditra as an alternative or even put the tile on the plywood. I'm personnally not a fan of tile on plywood, but it is done.
Ron

 

[LeviDIY]

Would the same principle apply to installing flooring in a kitchen? Remove existing base cabinets? Just curious...

 

[Ron6519]

Would the same principle apply to installing flooring in a kitchen? Remove existing base cabinets? Just curious...

In the kitchen it would be a necessity, not just a preference.
The subfloor would need to be raised to support a tile floor. Many times the process would trap the dishwasher so you couldn't remove it. Built in stoves would not be level with the counter. The kickspace under the counter would be 1/2 what it is now and look very odd. There's also a chance the refridgerator wouldn't fit under the cabinet anymore.
Retrofitting a ceramic tile floor in a kitchen has challenges. You need to look at each kitchen on a case by case basis to see if it's worth the effort.
Ron

 

[Nia]

Definitely take the time to remove the vanity. The last thing you want to do is take short cuts on your project. Like someone meantioned in a previous post, it allows flexibility if you want to change out your vanity in the future.

 

[Malibujim]

I recently remodeled our kitchen a year ago, and sought out the same advice. Found it's about 50-50 whether to tile under the cabinets or not. I have seen kitchens where they tiled the room and then put cabinets in. In the case I saw, the tile pattern wasn't even between the the cabinets and in my opinion, it looks better not to tile under the cabinets. More money, and I'm not sure how you secure the cabinets to tile? You can still tile an area for the dishwasher and refrigerator, and raise the cabinets with a layer of plywood for counter clearance over the dihwasher. The floor will probably get replaced before the cabinets, which would generate more problems down the road. As far as bathrooms go, we are doing a bathroom right now and decided to leave the sink cabinet in; just refinished it, as it was good wood. Apparently when they built this house that's how they did it. Found the cabinet on the subfloor and the underlayment put in around it.

 

[RegeSullivan]

In a kitchen it can be difficult to add a floor on top of an existing floor because the dishwasher and a slide in range can get locked into the new floor because of the lip created by the new floor. When I do a kitchen I always install the cabinets over the floor and lately I have been in the habit of raising the base cabinets 1/2" to 3/4" above the floor so it is easy to install a new floor in the future. A good install will include trim or scribe on the kick panel anyway to cover where the cabinets shimmed for proper leveling.