I hate the wood floors my builder installed and want to replace with ceramic or travertine. Wood floors are glue down so I'm nervous about removing them and potentially destroying sub floor. So I am considering whether I can install the tile onto the existing wood floors. The existing floors are a low end of the Bruce brand oak glue down. I think they are actually engineered…not true solid hard wood. They are thin (not 3/4") I want to manage my cost and want to do it myself. So not sure if removing old floor is a good idea.

No sorry absolutely not. There is to much expansion and contraction in any wood flooring to have almost any other flooring over it.
It will be necessary to remove the wood and some subflooring wil come up but you won t harm the wood enough that you can t easily fix it when you thin set a proper sized ( thickness) of cement board. No vapor barrier is needed at all if your dont a floor. Your wasting time and money by doing so since you ll be nailing or screwing every 6/8" on center any way.
Any questions you can e mail me through my avatar and check my qualifications there.. GL

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