Floor Tiling?

Question

I am going to tile a concrete floor. At moment it has vinyl type floor tiles on it which I am removing but this is leaving the black adhesive residue. I will be using granite tiles with an electric undertile heating mat, I have spoken with the manufacturers of the floor tile adhesive who say that I can tile over the black bitumen type adhesive after priming it with some preparation or other but the heating mat people say the elements in the mat will soften the bitumen & also give off a tar type smell when it gets hot. So one way or another it looks like I will have to try & remove the bitumen stuff which is proving to be a nightmare ... tried a wire brush on a drill, flap wheel.......Anyone had same experience & know how to shift the stuff? Someone also suggested Nitromores paint stripper which I havent tried yet...any other sugestions would be very useful

Answer 1

Try floor levelling compound over the surface first, primer (pva) first, then compound, then seal with pva, if it is sealed, there should be no effect on the original adhesive when the heat mat is on.

Answer 2

First of all ANY SOLVENT will just create more of a mess. Certainly you may notice that even your efforts caused some softening and "clogging" of the medium you used to remove the adhesive.

Big Box Home Imp. stores sell various floor scrapers. Tedious/ labor intensive/ but as effective as what you'll have to do if you use solvents.

If your budget can tolerate it you might investigate a floor sander with some medium of Grinder belt.

More of a question I have however is the substance of the mat; and after installing multiple thousands of sq. ft. of tile, and remediating the mistakes of others who tried to do a tiling job; I have to wonder of the way the heating mats will be first installed, and what medium you'll use OVER the mat; to attach the tile???

BTW,,, ANY manufacturer wanting to survive in todays marketplace is likely to claim almost anything. I suspect they have somewhere; even in fine print; a disclaimer stating NO LIABILITY for customer use.

I might be more inclined to consider losing a small amount of height overall; in the room; and add new substrate; such as concrete backer board; then do your thing. I'm still curious with regard to any proceedure and substance that will be successful in the long term by applying tile DIRECTLY to any substance of Mat.

Steven Wolf

Answer 3

Nitromores will just melt the Bitumen and just make a mess.
I burnt my hand badly with Bitumen years ago and the hospital used Ucatiptus oil to get it off........might be worth a try??? or you could try a different underfloor heating system like Warm-Up....with this system you have to put down an insulated boarding and the continuous wire system sits on top and its easier to tile on than the matting type......Good luck

Answer 4

Lowes has adhesive remover that is made specifically for floor tiles works well, just follow directions, will do 10x10 floor in a hour

Answer 5

Nitromores seems a bit extreme, but I bet meths will work. It's what I use to get tar spots off my car.
Meths mixes with water, so, soak and rub with meths/wire wool, then wash with a strong detergent - sugar soap.

Answer 6

if the vinyl tiles were fixed good to the floor you could`ve primed ( PVA) then screeded(10mm) over them....personally that is what i`d do with the existen floor, if you are laying concrete & heavy tiles there will be no problems...good luck