Filling the gaps on broken old Marley tiles

[Saycheese5]

Hi,

I have a concrete floor from where I have removed a carpet in order to lay a laminate flooring. I have taken out the wooden tack strip grippers which were nailed to the floor but by doing so parts of the old brown Marley asbestos tiles broke towards the skirting boards and I have removed a few bad ones. I'm trying to avoid buying a bag of self levelling compound since I would only need a bit of it and I've had a few disasters with it in the past. My question is, would I be able to use sand and cement to fill the gaps where the 4mm thick tiles have broken/been taken out?

Thank you!

 

[lymmranger]

plenty of threads about this in the flooring section....

vinyl marley type tiles such as yours were an integral part of your floors DPM. They do not all contain asbestos. without expensive testing you will never know - just guess, which I suspect was the tactic used by whoever advised you!

How properly do you want to do this?

your post suggests you do not want to spend any cash?!?

neither do you advise us of what type of floor you intend to install?!?

 

[Saycheese5]

They do not all contain asbestos. without expensive testing you will never know - just guess, which I suspect was the tactic used by whoever advised you!

I am a leaseholder and I went to see someone in Asset Management at the local council (the landlord). The person told me they know the tiles, they contain a small amount of asbestos. But they again you are right, one will only know for certain if their own sample is tested.

How properly do you want to do this?

your post suggests you do not want to spend any cash?!?

neither do you advise us of what type of floor you intend to install?!?

I just want to make the gaps in the broken tiles levelled with the rest of the floor.

I'm trying to do it on the cheap , it's just that a 25 kg bag of self levelling compound is too much for what I need and I've used it in the past and found it dried before I finished and the sun made it bulge. I know the occasional bit of cement dropped around can be quite hard to remove so I'm just wandering if 'plastering sand'/cement 3:1 would do the trick to fill in depths of 4mm where the tiles have broken?

As mention on my previous post I intend to install a laminate flooring

 

[Nige F]

vinyl marley type tiles such as yours were an integral part of your floors DPM. ?!?

And now they`ve got holes in them Rising Damp will ensue Possibly the most cost effective filler would be Car Body filler (2 Pack easy sand )

 

[lymmranger]

The "correct" fix is to remove all of them....
Apply "liquid" dPM
Fully screed

As you are not prepared to do that.....
You have said you are not prepared to spend £15-£20 on screed??????????

What do you expect me to advise???????????

Yes you can "bodge" it

.........BUT you are compromising your investment (the value of the property)

you WILL have damp issues (or rather your tenant will complain)

 

[Saycheese5]

I'm sure many people came across the same problem. Maybe I should have tried the flooring section (I haven;t used this site very much since I joined).

The tiles are fine except for those by the skirting boards because I partly broke them by removing the wooden grippers that were nailed to the floor. So if there were damp issues, in theory these should only occur alongside the skirting boards since the rest of the floor is covered with those tiles which were glued to the screed with dpm when the house was built in the late 40s. Am I right?

It's quite a bit of work to remove all tiles, apply new dpm and apply a new screed and finally trying to find a site which will accept 2 or 3 bags of Marley vinyl tiles because I was informed by the council my local tip won't take them in case they contain asbestos, they may not but I rather think they do (prevention is better than cure).

Thanks for your advice, I was hoping for a simple fix

 

[lymmranger]

As I understand it (not being a builder)

...modern floors have plastic sheeting( "visqeen"(spelt?)) then concrete and is therefore "damp-proof"

Your house has concrete, bitumen and tiles. It is/was the tiles that provide the durable finished surface

From experience of a house I owned many years ago, where I faced exactly the same situation, just filling the holes WILL cause damp, not might, WILL.

I was not trying to be rude, just offering the facts

 

[Saycheese5]

Your house has concrete, bitumen and tiles. It is/was the tiles that provide the durable finished surface

From experience of a house I owned many years ago, where I faced exactly the same situation, just filling the holes WILL cause damp, not might, WILL.

I would be surprised if damp can get through those tiles. But I will get myself a hygrometer damp reader to see if the vinyl tiles flooring read a humidity >75%. A cold floor surface attracts moisture so I will need to do that when the temperature of the air is less than that. If the floor was damp (I hope not) I would have to remove all tiles and redo the whole floor. But since you have experienced the same, is there was no current damp readings, what would you say about filling in the gaps by the skirting boards with DPM paint, a floor filler and then a damp proof underlay (please see link) before laying the laminate?

http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wc...ay?langId=110&storeId=10151&partNumber=089628

 

[lymmranger]

I actually used a mix with water self levelling.

It worked.....

BUT - the room always smelled "musty" (cost a fortune in air-fresheners when we sold )

By the time you have bought a decent moisture meter (cheap ones are no good) you may as well pay someone to do it properly
Once done that's it for ever (maybe)
"bodging" it will come back and bite you

 

[Broo]

Aware this is a VERY old thread but we have just lifted carpet gripper from (late 1960's) Marley tiles and a few have broken around the edge of the room. Also laying laminate on top - so was going to fill in the (smallish) gaps with self leveller. Did you ever have any damp problems as a result of the above? Thanks

 

[Nige F]

And now they`ve got holes in them Rising Damp will ensue Possibly the most cost effective filler would be Car Body filler (2 Pack easy sand )

I reiterate my answer - the shocked faces were somewhat in jest. Tell80 is a flooring/damp expert and may be along.