It is always exciting to read the answers! To the questioner: Simply laying something over the sunken area is not an option! I would definitely first get to the bottom of the cause of the sinking. That means: using a plunge saw with a diamond blade to remove the joint mortar between the sunken tiles, vacuum everything thoroughly, and carefully loosen the tiles with gentle hammer blows. There are not many of them. Keep these well, as they will be reinstalled in the same place later. Now carefully widen the area freed from tiles deeper with hammer and chisel, paying attention to any peculiarities of the substrate. In this way, you will encounter the cause within the floor structure, while keeping the extent of the damage very manageable. ----------------- If you later want to lay PVC over the entire surface, the entire tile surface must be thoroughly cleaned or ground with a diamond disc. Afterwards, prime (dispersion for non-absorbent substrates) and skim coat uniformly. This prevents the joint patterns of the ceramic covering from showing through the thin PVC covering (which looks really bad). ------------------------ Good luck: KlaRa