How Do I Break Down Keraquick

[nick giles]

hi folks.

i have a nasty situation.

i have lifted around 19 tiles which had been badly laid by a previous tiler,

the tiles came up ok, but there is keraquick cement based mapei glue stuck solid to the floor
with an electric heat mat under......

so i cant hit it with hammer and chisel.......

has anyone come across a solvent or other system which has successfully broken
down the glue without the need for brute scraping.

i have tried soaking it in water and pva... some thoughts about citric acid but not sure..

deep in the mire.
so any help would be gratefully received.

cheers.

Nick.

 

[Tile Shop]

I would try to grind most of it down to less than 1mm.... Then hit it with neat solution of LTP Grout Stain Remover (yep... works for addy too) and a wire brush.. If you need something a little more heavier duty, you could try the HG Limex.

Thats all I've got.

 

[Old Mod]

Is this a patch repair or a complete floor?
If it is a repair, I have used abrasive flap wheels, and grinding cups before.
It's very messy, and you need a light touch.
You can take the adhesive back enough to apply a new bed.
Is the UFH in slc?

 

[nick giles]

Is this a patch repair or a complete floor?
If it is a repair, I have used abrasive flap wheels, and grinding cups before.
It's very messy, and you need a light touch.
You can take the adhesive back enough to apply a new bed.
Is the UFH in slc?

yep its a repair, 19 tiles out of roughly 70. very messy. grinding 80 grit flaps sound a good idea.

just have to be so careful with the heat mat ( which is in about 10mm slc ) but as you know even with slc you get areas where the heat mat pokes up and is covered with tile glue.

thanks. Nick.

 

[Stef]

yep its a repair, 19 tiles out of roughly 70. very messy. grinding 80 grit flaps sound a good idea.

just have to be so careful with the heat mat ( which is in about 10mm slc ) but as you know even with slc you get areas where the heat mat pokes up and is covered with tile glue.

thanks. Nick.

Has the heat mat been tested to make sure it's working?
If it's covered in slc & done correctly then there shouldn't be any wires sticking up.

 

[Dan]

It won't just be 19 tiles it'll be all of them eventually. Lift them all up, self level on top of the adhesive, and retile it using a good tiler.

Www.tilersforums.com/directory

 

[One Day]

19 out of 70?!
Crazy to repair. Just replace everything. Trust me - it will be quicker...

 

[nick giles]

It won't just be 19 tiles it'll be all of them eventually. Lift them all up, self level on top of the adhesive, and retile it using a good tiler.

Www.tilersforums.com/directory

I agree, but that will be a 5k job, skirtings off, kitchen island out, lift 1500 quid worth of heat mat tiles, glue and self levelling..... nasty. i have to try a repair first up. The client is aware that it will need to be done properly in a couple of years, but if it lasts... then great.
I know it is a rip up and start again job, but i dont have professional indemnity insurance, and i dont walk away from jobs, but i also dont have the time or money to start again.

 

[nick giles]

I agree, but that will be a 5k job, skirtings off, kitchen island out, lift 1500 quid worth of heat mat tiles, glue and self levelling..... nasty. i have to try a repair first up. The client is aware that it will need to be done properly in a couple of years, but if it lasts... then great.
I know it is a rip up and start again job, but i dont have professional indemnity insurance, and i dont walk away from jobs, but i also dont have the time or money to start again.

I agree, but that will be a 5k job, skirtings off, kitchen island out, lift 1500 quid worth of heat mat tiles, glue and self levelling..... nasty. i have to try a repair first up. The client is aware that it will need to be done properly in a couple of years, but if it lasts... then great.
I know it is a rip up and start again job, but i dont have professional indemnity insurance, and i dont walk away from jobs, but i also dont have the time or money to start again.

It won't just be 19 tiles it'll be all of them eventually. Lift them all up, self level on top of the adhesive, and retile it using a good tiler.

Www.tilersforums.com/directory

i should come clean and admit the fundamental fault. big kitchen diner with 5x 25mm plywood sheets laid on to new joists at 40mm centers with regular dwangs/noggins. so its a solid floor, but due to a lapse in brain particles, no mat or cross ply was used to stop flex or movement in the floor, latex in the keraquick might have helped, but we just used water. I am experienced enough not to have made these mistakes, but hey we all have bad days.... just wish this had been on a piddly bathroom floor and not a showpiece kitch diner. plywood was primed with primerg, so there is nothing else wrong, ie lifting tiles etc.

 

[WetSaw]

i dont have professional indemnity insurance

 

[nick giles]

professional indemnity is not public liability which is required by law, of course i have that!! indemnity is when you make a genuine mistake which has consequences too expensive to cover.

 

[LM]

Has the island got a stone work surface, if so support below it to the sub base will be needed to support the weight or that joisted floor will keep on sinking. Just a thought

 

[One Day]

Marcrist make a small grinding cup for carefully removing adhesive residues.
On a variable speed grinder with a dust shroud - that's how I would remove the adhesive.

You do know Keraquick is cement adhesive - not "glue"?!
It can't be dissolved by anything short of alien blood.
You will HAVE to grind it out.

 

[Stef]

So the floor is 25mm ply on top of joists then heat mat & slc?
No other overboarding?

 

[nick giles]

So the floor is 25mm ply on top of joists then heat mat & slc?
No other overboarding?

yeah, fraid so.... its a busted flush