Still breaking and learning things in the new house. I decided to bust up the old tile and need to replace it (bad idea). After swinging a hammer around for a while I ended up with this.
Do I need to hit this with a flapper wheel and clean it up a little before tiling? We're going to replace it with a hex mosaic tile. Any other recommendations?
I can't tell exactly what you have there, but if it's thinset you can take an old chisel and scrape it off or at least scrape it smooth. They also make a 3x5" carbide block that will smooth it down. If it's flat and not loose, just tile over it.
If it's stuck well but not flat and you don't want the effort of removal, you could take a square trowel and smooth on new thinset to make it flat and tile over it. Mosaic is more forgiving than a bigger tile, flatness wise.
I did tile professionally with my in laws for a while and do it occasionally for friends and family now only when I have to. My advice if you're not using a mesh backed mosaic is to do some layout before the thinset is on the floor and keep your grout joint under 3/16".
I just finished the second room in our tile project, and also did a backsplash. We put down square porcelain tile in a running bond pattern over Schluter Ditra.
I'd suggest going to YouTube and checking out the instructional videos of Sal DiBlasi. Seriously. We read some instructions, but seeing him do everything, and explain how it all worked was invaluable.
A flapper wheel sounds like a really bad idea.
Cement products have silica in them. Silica dust is bad stuff, and can cause silicosis, lung cancer, as well as kidney disease. Airborne fine silica dust all over the house doesn't sound like a wise and well-reasoned decision.
Old cement can also have asbestos in it.
Kinda hard to tell what's there but it doesn't look like thinset , looks like flooring adhesive actually
I'm not sure what it is, still learning here. It looks like the right corner of the bathroom had a water leak of some sort because it peeled of beautifully there. Otherwise its on there pretty good.
Here is a close up.
I would spend some more time with a chisel and patience going after the big lumps. Then leave the small ones (under 1/8").
You can then skim it with floor leveler and continue.
A flapper wheel (or any power tool that converts it instantly into fine airborne cancer powder) is a bad idea.
Patience is your answer.
Sounds like a plan!
What do you recommend for the floor leveler? After that's good to go I proceed as normal?
I'll second what SVrex said. When I did the back bathroom it left a lot of extra material unlike the front bathroom. I knocked the high spots down then just spread the thinset on a little thicker and leveled it out with the notched trowel.
On the kitchen and hallway I had a lot of uneven spots and took it all the way back down to the concrete with a turbo grinder. That thing made some dust for sure, and I'll probably die a few years sooner now, but I wore a respirator and hopefully that was enough.
In reply to Enyar:
Mapei self-leveling underlayment.
Trowel it with a smooth trowel, let it set, then knock off any ridges with a 6" knife just after it sets. Do not wait until it cures- you won't be able to get the ridges off. They will be hard as a rock.
If it's only an 1/8" thick or so, thinset will work fine. But let it set up for 24 hours after leveling it, THEN install your new tile. Don't try to do it in 1 thick layer- it will crack and not bond well.
Enyar wrote: I'm not sure what it is, still learning here. It looks like the right corner of the bathroom had a water leak of some sort because it peeled of beautifully there. Otherwise its on there pretty good. Here is a close up.
you have an interesting way of flipping people off
Spent some time knocking down the larger bumps but it's still very bumpy. If I put a 4' level across the floor the random bumps are ridges live about a 1/8" gap between the floor and the level. From what I've read it seems like this is fixable with thinset but I think I'm going to go with the SLC just to try to make my life easier even if it costs a little more. It being my first tile I want this to go as easy as possible. Game plan is to lay primer+SLC tomorrow and then tile by the end of the week.
Slab or crawlspace house? Just had tiling done in my house. Crawlspace house. Used backer-board over the wood and it leveled well. Talked with my tiler about concrete slab houses. He said leveler smoothed for big uneven, can get away with using thinset to level if not too bad.
Honestly, here's what I'd do. I hate tiling, but really like grippy, waterproof surfaces. Just don't get it on your hootus.
Well Floor and Decor sold me some Mapei Ultraflex LFT for the thin set and the Keracolor U unsanded grout + mapei grout maximizer for the grout. Reviews on the maximizer seem mixed but I'm interested in this stain resistance they are promising.
I'm going to attempt to level the floor with the ultraflex lft this evening. Wish me luck!
Well I wimped out. I kept measuring to see how uneven the floor is and finally decided to go the self leveling route. Bought the stuff yesterday and laid down the primer. Tonight the mayhem continues.
Doing the smart thing with the correct products isn't wimping out
Well my first attempt went well (pictures below). This stuff ending up going much further than expected, I only used half a bag or so. Unfortunately there was still a slight dip in the middle so I tried to pour a small batch this morning. When I first mixed it it seemed way too watery so I added more powder which didn't seem to mix well. When I poured it on it did not smooth out very well and I had to trowel it flat. No pictures of the second back but I'll report back how it looks when I get home from work. I may have to do a third batch because I dont think this 2nd back will flatten out very well.
After priming:
After the self leveling stuff:
I went around after it started to dry to knock down those little bumps.
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