Kitchen floor

[brandon31]

Hi all,





I am a newbie so be gentle.

I am in the process of completely renovating my kitchen house built approx
1950, It was in a real state when I purchased the house (discovered when
stripping it) and I am trying to do everything 100% no bodge jobs.

I have stripped everything out and have now hit a dilema which I am sure some
one with more knowledge with me may be able to help.

I have removed the horrible green (I think) ceramic tiles fitted by the
previous owner....all fixed pretty solid took some effort removing them.


Under the tiles was a layer of what I believe was adhesive, some a brownish
colour with a crumbly texture and some a black/grey colour with a more firm
texture.

Under this I have found what looks like some old red quarry tiles covering
most of the floor, another part was what looked like screed and another part
that is just sand and earth tiles straight over it!!!!!!! a bloody
mess!!!!!!

Some of the tiles sound solid some sound hollow.

I have been told I can just use a self leveling concrete screed over the top
of everything but I am not covinced as the sand/earth section is very soft and
crumbly.


Can anyone advise on the best way of making this floor a more solid secure
floor ready for my new ceramic tiles?


As I have stripped everything back to brick etc I want to do everything to
the best finish now.

I appreciate any advice greatly

Cheers

 

[Rich]

If you were going to use SLC all the loose stuff would have to be removed before. To be hones if you want the job done right, get a pro in to do the work.

 

[White Room]

Could you put some pics on, bit more visual.

 

[Barry bp]

It sounds to me that you need a good tiler to come round and see it in the flesh sometimes you need to see a job and touch and tap to get a feel what to do next and if you want to do a proper job as you say with respect then get an expert round

 

[brandon31]

Hi Guys.

Appreciate all the replies but I just wanted a bit of and idea before I decide what to do so I know what to listen out for from experts.

As we all know everyone who comes to quote is an expert, but not everyone is so if I have some idea I can avoid the cowboys. Also here are some pics

 

[Barry bp]

If some of the tiles sound hollow this is a prob have you got a small breaker to have a go at seeing how the tiles may come up ?

 

[Rich]

Thanks for the pics (although my computer wont let me see them), you seem to have your head screwed on.

The best thing you could do would be to send a private message to Dave, the admin of this site and he should be able to put you in contact with a (real) expert in your area. That way you will know that he knows what he knows what he is talking about.

A a rough plan, you will need to remove anything loose, remove anything that you can from the floor and hoover all dust and grit away. You may need to patch some areas in at this stage. Then a suitable SLC should be able to cover the floor (as long as all instructions are followed).

 

[brandon31]

Hi Barry,

I was concerned hollow sounds might meen damp underneath? the only tiles that seem loose are the a few round the edges of the sand/concrete filled areas. I removed the ceramics with a large chisel bit with my sds drill the ceramics were a tough nut but came up in the end but non of the quarry tiles lifted at all. I noticed bits of quarry tile mixed in with the sand area.

Hi Rich,

The pics are being funny on mine too but I just clicked them and they opened up, I thought as you stated sweep and remove any loose dirt/tile/screed sand etc and then SLC.

The previous tiles were well stuck and had no cracks or lift etc so I presume I will be ok.

My major concern is taking up the quarries and exposing allsorts of 70 year old nasty things thats would have been better left well alone while all settled and untouched I guess it will remain pretty solid.

 

[Rich]

Usually I would say take up as much as possible to get back to as sound a substrate as possible, then make good of this and tile. It takes more time but is a much a better way of doing it but in this case Im going to say get on the phone to a tiler.

 

[Barry bp]

I agree with Rich

Brandon Dont ask rich for pics (bit of privet joke we can have fun too!)

 

[Mike]

i've seen a lot of old kitchens with quarry tiles like that were they've just been put down on the earth/soil. this could well be the situation here but as earlier said you may need the proffesionals in. may need a total rip out, dig down, lay hardcore, jablite/kingspan, visqueen and concrete. hopefully not tho

 

[brandon31]

I guess I have no choice then, I can see my kitchen budget slowly shrinking....

I will pull out one of the quarries tomorrow and see if the sub is concrete or just earth, Hopefully concrete and the sand patch is where someone has just bodged in the past

Cheers Guys

 

[brandon31]

Morning all.

I dug out the the rubbish from one of the spaces without quarry tiles to find a solid concrete/cement base under it.
I can now also see around the edges that the quarries are seated on a 1-1/2 inch solid base and not just earth as I first thought.

I am hoping I can now fill in the missing floor to the same level as the quarries and then tile the whole floor or fill in to level and then screed the whole floor to level even more.

Does that sound ok?

 

[Rich]

If there is a good sound base under them I would be tempted to remove the tiles aswell, take it right back to the screed, prep the screed (repair if needed), if its a bit up and down then use SLC then tile. This would be the best way to do it but a lot more work.