Preparation for tiling over existing quarry tiled floor.

[cutchi]

Help! can anyone give me some advice please? I am going to put ceramic tiles down over the old quarry tiles in my kitchen and conservatory, about 25 sq. metres. Have to do them myself as hubby is too mean to pay for a tiler! Impossible to take up existing tiles so please don't suggest it. I have read all the wonderful advice you lot give and think I can do it as I have done lots of wall tiling successfully in the past. My problem is that I am busy cleaning off all the old sealant/polish that has been put on them over the years with proprietry cleaner HG remover, but don't know if I should be putting on some PVA or something afterwards to ensure the tiles stick properly. I read here about scoring old tiles but I don't think I have the strength to do that.
Will they be OK when I have got all the old polish off?

 

[gcol]

The trouble is, you need to get every last bit of polish off. I don't usually agree in scoring tiles when tiling on top, however, the last time I was asked to tile over polished quarry tiles, I cut into the surface of the tiles with the angle grinder just to make sure the adhesive would get a proper grip.
If you get the tiles as clean as you can, give em a scrubbing with brick and patio cleaner and you should be ok to tile onto that without scoring.
I only scored the floor because it was only a small area and I didn't have any brick cleaner with me at the time.

 

[cutchi]

The trouble is, you need to get every last bit of polish off. I don't usually agree in scoring tiles when tiling on top, however, the last time I was asked to tile over polished quarry tiles, I cut into the surface of the tiles with the angle grinder just to make sure the adhesive would get a proper grip.
If you get the tiles as clean as you can, give em a scrubbing with brick and patio cleaner and you should be ok to tile onto that without scoring.
I only scored the floor because it was only a small area and I didn't have any brick cleaner with me at the time.

Thanks for your prompt reply, never heard of brick and patio cleaner - can you reccommend one? Do I then need to put PVA or anything else on?

 

[gcol]

Something like this should be ok.
Use an adhesive suitable for porcelain tiles - most flexible adhesives should be ok.

 

[cutchi]

Hi, thanks for the link. Why adhesive for porcelain tiles when I am using ceramic?? I have already bought bags of Wickes adhesive for ceramic floor tiles. Is it because of the quarry tiles? Should I change it??

By the way, for anyone reading this who needs to remove sealer from tiles, don't bother with the HG remover - expensive and an utter waste of time - Kleenoff ammonia household cleaner does the job much better and cheaper -just keep the windows open!

 

[gcol]

The reason I recommended adhesive suitable for use with porcelain tiles is because this type of adhesive is designed for surfaces with very low porosity (like the surface of a tile..... or quarry tile). Make sense?

 

[cutchi]

The reason I recommended adhesive suitable for use with porcelain tiles is because this type of adhesive is designed for surfaces with very low porosity (like the surface of a tile..... or quarry tile). Make sense?

Yes, I get it! Makes sense to me now, thanks a lot. I will have to change my adhesive -good job I hadn't started yet!