On Oct 19, 4:16 pm, Heathcliff wrote:
On Oct 19, 12:13 pm, wrote:

My wife and I are considering installing a new floor in our laundry
room. Currently it is a vinyl asbestos tile floor - we would like to
avoid removal if at all possible. My preference would be to install
hardibacker over a layer of mud and lay a ceramic tile floor, but my
mother-in-law has convinced my wife that the tile will crack fairly
easily (ie: dropping a can of soup). Will this be a concern? Are there
some tiles more resilient that would better resist chipping/cracking
than others? Currently we're also using the room as tool storage -
would there be a better option? The in-laws are advocating a sheet
vinyl floor, but I can't stand the thought of spending MORE money for
what I see as a lower quality product. I can install ceramic tile
myself, but sheet vinyl would require hiring a pro.

Sheet vinyl is kind of like asphalt shingles -- won't get your home
into Architectural Digest, and is not exactly a solution for the ages,
but it's so darn practical and reasonable that almost everyone uses
it. Comes in a million patterns. No joints or seams to worry about
in a room that size. It'll last long enough, and when its done you
just roll it up and throw it away. -- H


Some other factors that come to mind:

What flooring material does this transition to and how visible is the
mud room from whatever adjoins it? Is the mud room also an entrance
to outside, so more traffic will go through it and people will see
what flooring is there? What type of flooring is in the rest of the
house? The places I've seen ceramic tile used the most in mud rooms
usually have that tile extending into other adjacent areas, like the
kitchen as well.

I would not be concerned with things dropping and breaking the tile.
Yes, it can happen, but it's not common. The more typical is the
reverse. If you drop a glass or bottle on a vinyl floor, it's much
less likely to break than if you drop it on ceramic. But that would
not be a major concern for me in a mud room.

One thing I don't follow is your 1/4" height calculation. I don't
see how you're going to get the hardiboard, thinset, tile, etc in and
only raise the floor 1/4"

If you can do the tile work yourself and get the tile done or about
the same as vinyl, I'd go with the tile.