Thick uniform black layer on kitchen floor??

[benjii19]

Hi all, first off I'm a complete newcomer to this world of property owning and DIY.

I've recently started looking at the flooring of my kitchen in a 1930's semi detached property. It has these thinish tiles on top of a black layer. I've removed a few with not too much effort but have successfully scared myself with the whole asbestos thing after trying to figure out what this black layer is by looking on the net.

The black layer is quite thick and seems quite uniform across the floor. If it was Mastic would it be more haphazard and look like some paste applied to the floor. Isn't it some kind of thick membrane ontop of the concrete maybe to prevent damp??

*It is an ex council house.. and I have read it could be Asphalt or Bitumen as it was apparently popular back then. I could be wrong.

**ADDED PICTURES**

The light green layer is the top level of tile they are only a couple of mm thick.

Untitled

• benjii19
• 12 Feb 2010
• 1

Untitled

• benjii19
• 12 Feb 2010
• 1

Untitled

• benjii19
• 12 Feb 2010
• 1

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[1john]

i think it may well just be the adhesive from your tiles. are the tiles brittle?

 

[joinerjohn]

Should be bitumen. Especially if the property has been refurbished sometime in the past.

 

[benjii19]

Hi thanks for the replies.

How exactly do you tell if it is a bitumen or asphalt top layer or if it is adhesive?

It's about 20mm thick all the way round the room right up to the walls. It's almost like a big black matt. I can try and get a photo tonight if that's helpfull.

 

[flooringman]

It is almost certain that you have Marley type tiles laid on to bitumen on a concrete sub floor. You could try scraping the bitumen with a Stanley blade to see how deep it is - probably only a couple of mm.

What you are hoping to do with the floor will have a bearing on the way you procede.

 

[benjii19]

Hi Flooringman thanks for the info.

I've got a tile loc laminate floor from B&Q that I wanted to put down. However I bumped into a raised part of the floor on closer inspection that I don't think will mix well with laminate.

I'm ripping up the green tiles in order to see what's underneath but now It looks like what's underneath could be a black tile. Is this going to be poinltess and hellishly expensive to sort or shall I just take the laminate back and get a roll of lino??

 

[1john]

as stated above, looks like marleys with bitumen adhesive. you can remove all the tiles and work over the top of it.