If the linoleum is very secure it doesn't need to come up. However, if there are some areas that are loose, it will all need to be torn out. Whoever is doing the tiling should decide that. Don't try taking it up yourself.

As for the grout, it's a personal preference. I recently saw the wood look/tile in a model home and the tiles looked to be as close as they could be, with very narrow grout lines, and the grout being close to the tile color. It's supposed to resemble a wood floor so you don't want wide grout lines you find in tile of 'years past'.

Installing ceramic tile over resilient flooring is a risk you should avoid. To be assured of a good tile installation you should remove the flooring and place the tile on the bare concrete with latex-modified thin-set mortar.

I assume it is a single sheet of flooring so it should not be fully adhered if it was installed by a professional but there is no way to know without tearing most of it up.

I'm showing my age, lol - it's actually sheet vinyl.
I'm having the tile professionally installed by my friend's tile installer, he did an awesome job on her tile. The only reason I didn't use him on the other bath was he balked at using epoxy grout, which I wanted. The other bath tiler said just leave the sheet vinyl, and that vinyl was pulling up all over!! I insisted it be removed first, just on instinct.

Anyway, just wondered if there was some "engineering reason" the wood-look tile's grout lines couldn't be 1/8".

Thanks for all the replys!! That vinyl's going off the concrete for sure!!

To have 1/8" grout lines, look for a tile that is "rectified". Each piece of rectified tile has been calibrated during manufacturing to be the exact same size so that a tight even fit with minimal grout is possible.

Tile should not be applied directly to concrete; an uncoupling membrane between the concrete and tile is inexpensive insurance against tile cracking. Concrete and tile move at much different rates.

Trebruchet, would Ditra be a good one to use?

Ditra is good.

suel41452:

Use the Ditra; see the link, please.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ditra

Thanks for responding, will use Ditra!

I've already bought the tiles from Lowes - they're "Style Selections Nott Gunstock Glazed Porcelain Floor Tile (Common: 6-in x 24-in; Actual: 5.91-in x 23.62-in)".
They have a slightly rounded (pressed) edge.
The store has a display of the tiles with 1/8" grout lines, so I guess that's doable.

The use of Ditra under tile on concrete is not to accommodate different coefficients of thermal expansion (in this case they are similar) it is to accommodate the possibility of the concrete substrate cracking which is not much of a problem for old concrete especially in a such a small area, but the Ditra can't hurt.

A wood substrate has a very different coefficient of thermal expansion than tile so Ditra is very effective for protecting the tile work and it also provides waterproofing.