Laying flooring over quarry tiles

[chickensafari]

We have recently had a quote for laying LVT over the original quarry tiles in the oldest part of our farmhouse, and have been told by the fitters that the tiles have failed the test (I'm assuming some sort of damp test) and that they will be in touch to let us know what the different options are now.

Has anyone got any experience of laying flooring over original quarry tiles? Not necessarily LVT, any flooring at all? We really want to avoid having to pull them all up and lay a damp proof course etc.

Original quarry tiles sound lovely - why would you want to cover them?

@SerendipitySunshine I thought the same!

If you are knocking through and you don't have enough to make a floor you can buy reclaimed ones to extend them, but they aren't cheap. I'd choose original quarry tiles or stone over LVT every day.

They are very old and damaged unfortunately, otherwise we would keep them for sure. There was an old Rayburn in there for decades, so some are very soot stained and others which were under the kitchen units are really clean. We've also knocked two walls down to take a small corridor out and have a mixture of different tiles in there now too, its all a bit of a mess!

It might be to do with what's under the tiles and the insulation etc. We had quarry tiles in the kitchen (a 30s house) and wanted to cover them because we couldn't find reasonably priced tiles to match the existing ones, but in any event, it was so cold to walk on the existing floor you needed slippers etc. Turns out that was literally no insulation beneath the quarry tiles and it didn't work to lay something on top due to needing to put insulation in and / or wonky levels of existing floor and what new floor would need to be (with insulation and scree) compared to rest of house.

We had a damp, cold quarry tiled floor in our kitchen. As part of an extension and remodelling, we had the tiles taken up. It wasn't just a case of needing to add a damp-proof membrane. Not only was there no insulation underneath: there was nothing at all other than compacted earth and possibly ash.

We had the whole lot dug out and replaced with a proper insulated slab in accordance with modern building regs.

I suspect ours will be similar unfortunately as it’s quite an old house and the tiles are in the oldest part of the house. I have added a picture so you can see the state of them.

Has anyone successfully covered them over without having any damp issues? I can’t bear the thought of having them pulled up, we’ve just finished an extension and were hoping to cover the tiles in this part of the house with an alternative flooring and finally be done with the dust and mess of house renovations 😖

If I didn't have the appetite (or funds) for a big job I'd maybe consider laying a damp proof membrane over the tiles and laying flooring on top. I wouldn't use expensive flooring or anything like solid wood that would be badly affected by damp. I might consider laying some of the cheaper vinyl tiles or something.

If the room is going to have much fitted furniture (kitchen, bathroom etc) that might change my approach. You don't want all the expense of ripping that out and starting again of you do get problems.