Tiling on bitumen adhesive residue

[The Pilk]

Can anyone help? I have just lifted some old vinyl tiles in the kitchen and to my horror have found that they were stuck down with a thin coat of bitumen adhesive. What must I do before laying the tiles? I am also laying loose wire under floor heating, what are the consequenses should I be unable to remove the Bitumen which is what you may suggest?

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

I don't think that black asphaltic tile adhesive is actually bitumen.

But, regardless, it's not a problem to tile over it, but you're wanting to install some electrical heating wire under the floor necessitates it's removal (I think), cuz the stuff will get soft and flow if it's warm.

It should be soluble in white spirits.

Dissolve it in white spirits until you have a black liquidy mess on the floor. Maybe agitate with a scrub brush to dissolve the black adhesive completely.

Then add a detergent, and I'd use either Simple Green or Mr. Clean. (Anything that will emulsify white spirits.) So what you have now is both the detergent molecules and the black adhesive dissolved in the white spirits. Experiment with how much detergent to add. I'd start out by adding plenty and reduce the amount gradually.

Then add water and scrub to ensure thorough mixing of the water into the black mess.

When you add water, an emulsion should form. Basically, what you'll have is globules of white spirits with the black adhesive dissolved in the white spirits, and those globules suspended in water.

And, then clean that water based emulsion off the floor with a sponge and bucket off water.

You can also buy products meant to remove that black adhesive that are essentially white spirits mixed with a detergent. Just phone around to your local carpet retailers and ask who sells flooring installation supplies in your area. Phone up that place and ask what they have to remove black tile adhesive.

Here in North America, the most popular product to do that is a product called "Oil Flo" made by Titan Labs in Sunnyvale, California. I've used it to remove black asphaltic tile adhesive, and I found I could get equally good results using white spirits and BOTH Simple Green and Mr. Clean. That is, I'd dissolve the black adhesive with white spirits. Then I'd mix in some Simple Green. Then I'd mix in the Mr. Clean. Then I'd add water. And then I'd clean up that black mess with a sponge and bucket of water.

This is a messy job so use some painter's masking tape to tape wax paper onto the bottom 10 inches of the wall or so to prevent making a big mess from liquid spattering onto the wall.

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

Very important point to add to the instructions in the previous post:

Wet the floor down and allow that water to be absorbed into the wood or concrete below before doing anything. (Don't wet down the whole floor, only the area you want to remove the black stuff from (several square feet, say).)

Then just wipe up any excess water with a sponge prior to putting down the white spirits.

That will allow the porous substrate to absorb water FIRST, thereby preventing it from sucking in the white spirits which will be laden with that black stuff in solution.

And that way, you don't get the black stuff penetrated deep into the substrate where it's very difficult to get out.

Spray down the area with water, allow time for absorbtion, and wipe up any excess water prior to each time you put down the white spirits.

 

[The Pilk]

thanks very much for the advice guys, I appreciate it and will use it in the next couple of weeks when I start the project