Help laying ceramic floor tiles

[AlexP]

I am laying some ceramic floor tiles in my kitchen.

The floor is concrete, but the old floor was partially covered with what appear to be lino tiles. I have removed these, but there is a black sticky layer left where the tiles were (about 2mm thick). This layer is like tar, I think it could be bitumen? The tile adhesive I bought is for concrete floors so what should I do? I am thinking I will need to get rid of this sticky stuff, it is soluble in white spirit (I know cos I washed my hands with it after getting the tiles off), how should I go about doing this?

Thanks,

Alex

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

Our old tiles lifted quite easily off the concrete floor, the odd few chunks and half tiles that would'nt move were heated with an electric heat gun (paint stripper) and scraped off.
Can pen and ink a bit though ! !

 

[DAZB]

Save the time and money and just go over the top of it. The adhesive that will go on a concrete floor will go on any floor that will not move . In other words it's not for floorboards, ply, hardboard etc. Once bitumen is laid it will remain hard and doesn't move so should be fine for tiling on.

 

[Graeme]

Im laying ceramic tiles in the kitchen in a couple of weeks time as well, just thought I would follow up on this rather than starting a new post. The floor is concrete and I may be ignorant by thinking there is'nt much to it. I believe the floor needs damp proofing prior to laying, any recommendations please? Will I have to get an electric tile cutter or can I get a tile disc for my angle grinder or would that be inappropriate for the job.

Thanks

 

[breezer]

it depends on what the floor you currently have is. if concrete then no dpc requred since you will in effect be laying the tiles on the dpc which means the floor will not be secure when finished. and the existing concrete should have a dpc before it was laid.

If it is a wooden floor then you should screw a large board down first (say fix every 6 inches, to stop it moving)

i think that you should get a proper tile cutter unless the tiles are that thick, i used an angle grinder on my existing ceramic wall tiles (great fun, loads of dust) to make a channel for the electric cables, it made "mincemeat" out of the existing tiles.

The chap who tiled the kitchen (mrs Breezer wouldn't let me do it) did indeed use a water cooled electric tile cutter, he did say it will cut all tiles, he even used it to put "curves" in some of the tiles. I am trying to say an angle grinder is a bit too vicious

One other thing, if you think you can tile it in a day, allow 2 days to be on the safe side, also if you can tile under everything as in the case of having a fitted kitchen tile first, if you tile up to the washing m/c you will never be able to get it out, since it can't go up and over the tiles because there may not be enough room to go up once the tiles are in place (mrs Breezer now wants the kitchen floor tiled, but it cant be done as it will need to go up 1/2 inch (floor boards, so will need large board down first to stop movement) plus height of tiles so washing m/c will never be able to come out. (as it will end up being nearly an inch below the finished floor

so tile effect lino it is then (for us)

 

[Graeme]

Hey Breezer

Thanks for the reply. The floor is concrete and after hearing the preperation needed for wooden flooring, I am glad as I would not have bothered if that was the case. I just measured the clearance from the w/machine (7/8") & d/washer (1 2/8") to the underside of the worktop so I hope that will be enough. I will take your advice re the angle grinder and will pick up a tile cutter after all, I had imagined a straight line would be no mean feat with one of those. I think I would prefer to use that dpv stuff just to be on the safe side, the reason I am tileing it is due to a flood anyway and the lino & carpet had to be scraped so the dpv may need a re-doing after that.

 

[masona]

The floor is concrete

Don't you mean floor screed ? (look like sharp sand) If so you won't need damp proofing as it should already have a pvc membrane under the concrete oversite then floor screed on top,but there's nothing stopping you if you want to add it on,you would be wasting your money though.

 

[Graeme]

Screed, concrete...Im not sure. The whole downstairs has no floorboards just concrete or is it screed? Dont think Ill bother with the dpv stuff after all, it only came to my attention after reading the label of the tile putty that said you must use it beforehand.

 

[breezer]

concrete is what the floor will be made of, screed is usually a mix of sand & cement put on the concrete to make it level (and or smooth) but inbetween both a dpc (damp proof course) which is usually no more than thick polythene is layed to stop damp coming up from the ground through the concrete to the "floor surface"

and if that wasn't bad enough ther are various types of screed see this

 

[Graeme]

The missus seems to think that when tiling you have to start from the centre of the floor in order for it to remain 'even'. I was intending starting at the corner and work my way across. What is the proper way to do it? She's even laid a small wager on her answer being the right one!

 

[masona]

There isn't any proper way of doing it All about working neat & tidy.I wouldn't start at the middle because you'll end up walking round the edge and can't get out and pointless starting at the door working away from it and shout help "I'm celebrity get me out of here!" Remember the room are never square,I always cut tiles round the edge with equal gap so if the room is out of square you won't noticed.Always use a straight edge like say 2"x1" timber to keep your tiles straight.If it was me I would start in the corner away from the edge to whatever gap for a equal tile cut.Cut the tiles round the edge when finish with full tiles etc.

See this for layout idea.Oh and erm there's a women in the picture laying floor tiles so you might not have to do it Graeme

 

[Graeme]

That's an excellent reference guide masona, it answered all the other things I was unsure about as well, thanks!

 

[MANDATE]

Hi Graeme,
You'd better pay the wife, she's right.
You always work from the middle out wards, finishing by using part tiles around the edges to give an even appearance
You will, more than likely introduce a few errors which accumulate over distance,so starting in the middle means less distance in any direction.

 

[masona]

It doesn't really matter where you start as long as you know the middle and tiles edge is correct to your liking.Some room are awkward shape and can't always start in the middle.Well that's my theory!

 

[breezer]

I would have to agree with MANDATE, all the tv progs i have seen say when tiling never start at an edge.

say you are going to tile a wall, you put in the first row at the bottom, by the time you get to the top the tiles could be all leaning to one side because the bottom runs "down"

so by starting in the middle (or at least not at the bottom) you can "fill in the gaps" with tiles that have been cut at the correct angle to allow for the "drop" from one side to the other


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ok, so the the lines are a bit exagerated, but if you put tiles on each line all the tiles would be out of align with each other when you get to the top