Kitchen flooring advice

[duotwr]

Hi

I was on a few weeks ago asking questions about laying rubber floor tiles - which the forum then conviced me was a bad idea! I'm now thinking about vinyl sheet flooring.

So, I had an investigate of what is under the kitchen floor this morning. I took up the threshold and it turned out that what I thought was vinyl tiles was actually tile effect laminate.

Underneath this appears to be 1.5 mm slate tiles, set into black adhesive, over a concrete floor (see the picture).

Any thoughts on the best way of dealing with this?

1. Do I need to worry about presence/absence of a dpm in the kithchen. House was built in the mid 1950s.
2. Can I lay ply over the slate tiles?
3. I have no idea how level the floor is - if it's bad would i have to use some kind of levelling compound prior to something else on top?

Any suggestions or advice gratefully received.

Thanks
Keith

Untitled

• duotwr
• 19 May 2012
• 1

 

[flooringman]

What you have is a laminate floor (presumably over an underlay) over vinyl tiles (probably containing asbestos) over bitumen over concrete.

The chances are there will be no dpm in the sub floor.

If you are going to put down sheet vinyl it will need to stuck to the sub floor, cushion vinyl can be loose laid.

Depending on how well the vinyl tiles are stuck down it is possible to screed over and lay a cushion vinyl. The existing tiles should really be uplifted before screeding but as I say they may contain asbestos - up to you.

If you are going to stick down the sheet vinyl you should check the sub floor first for dampness.

 

[duotwr]

THanks flooringman.

When I saw the mysterious tiles I didn't recognise the material - so wondered if they might be something like that.

The vinyl supplier I'm getting my flooring from suggests that even though it's not cushioned, because I'm only covering a small area then it can just be stuck down around the perimeter with double sided tape. What I don't know is what the surface is going to be like underneath the laminate - from what you say it sounds like the approach is either to remove the tiles, or cover with screed. Putting vinyl sheet onto the old vinyl tiles sounds like it would be a no-no.

And as a slightly random option - would it also be a bad idead to think about laying vinyl sheet over the laminate?

I'll have a think, but any more suggestions welcome.

Keith

 

[mattysupra]

just a quick on,

The tiles are not Vinyl. They are thermoplastic. They will most likely contain asbestos.


also vinyl cushion floor should be loose laid. Vinyl commercial should be fully bonded. Never stick with double sided tape.


Maybe get a pro in to quote? might end up cheaper than not knowing what your doing.

 

[catlad]

I had the same in my kitchen and I took the tiles up with a paint scrapper, then put 6mm ply down with cushion vinyl.

 

[duotwr]

Thanks for the replies.

I might get a sample of the tiles tested for asbestos, just to be sure where I am.

Catlad - did you ply over a concrete floor? How did the drilling and fixing of the ply go? What was the spacing on the screws?

Keith

 

[mattysupra]

plywood is for going over wooden subfloors not solid.


To prep a solid subfloor you should be using smoothing compounds. At the top of the flooring forum there is some stickies that i wrote a few years a go on how to prepair the subfloor.


For reference tho plywood should be fixed at a minimum of -

150mm centers
100mm centers around the perimeter and withing 12mm of the edge.

 

[duotwr]

Thanks for the reply. I had a look at your stickies on Slc's etc and realised then that ply wasn't the way. I'll have a think about screeds etc and do a bit more reading then prob post again.

Keith

 

[mattysupra]

the stickies are out of date mate.

Maybe best to ask back here for recommended compounds and methods.

I would update the Stickies but the admin on here dont reply to any of my messages. Even the messages asking them if i can PAY and have a advert on here.

Maybe a link will get there attention? For advanced help and info you can try this place- http://theflooringforum.com

Im known as 'Matt' on there.

 

[duotwr]

Matt

thanks for the message. I'll have a look round the forum you recommend.

From your earlier message, and from some other threads, it seems the bitumen layer acts (to some degree) as a partial dpm - but who knows if it's doing this job properly.

You suggested maybe laying a screed over the top of the lot - which I could then loose lay cusioned vinyl on? But without adding a dpm? Presumably jsut good quality primer and SLC? I'm limited to raising the height by not more than about 10mm in all.

Keith