Hi, i will soon be laying karndean vinyl floor planks in my house, it
is a 1946 semi and i am concerned whether it has a dpm under the
concrete floor, it has old black tiles down at the moment which i found
under the carpet not sure what they are made of but they are brittle
and blown on the corners (white dust around the edges), they seem quite
well fixed to the concret floor, it looks there is bitumen on some of
the tiles, does anyone know the likelihood of ther e being a dpm under
the concrete for this age of house. I dont have any damp problems other
than the white dust around the edges of these old tiles, which i think
is due to damp of some sort, and i dont want to lay new floor without
treating the concret first. would bitumen do the job if i spread sand
over the top before i put self level compound down?

Im planning to lift the tiles ,self level with latex, and lay the floor
with pressure sensitive adhesive. do i need to prime the concrete
before latex if so what with? and then do i need to prime the latex
before the adhesive?
Also can i lay the latex in two parts ( i have all downstairs to do)or
does it need to go down all at once. Any advice would be much
appreciated. Thanks

ASBESTOS ALERT THE TILE AND ADHESIVE BOTH PROBABLY CONTAIN ASBESTOS

probably no waterproof membrane either..........

wrote:
ASBESTOS ALERT THE TILE AND ADHESIVE BOTH PROBABLY CONTAIN ASBESTOS

probably no waterproof membrane either..........

So what?

jim wrote:
Hi, i will soon be laying karndean vinyl floor planks in my house, it
is a 1946 semi and i am concerned whether it has a dpm under the
concrete floor, it has old black tiles down at the moment which i
found under the carpet not sure what they are made of but they are
brittle and blown on the corners (white dust around the edges), they
seem quite well fixed to the concret floor, it looks there is bitumen
on some of the tiles, does anyone know the likelihood of ther e being
a dpm under the concrete for this age of house. I dont have any damp
problems other than the white dust around the edges of these old
tiles, which i think is due to damp of some sort, and i dont want to
lay new floor without treating the concret first. would bitumen do
the job if i spread sand over the top before i put self level
compound down?

Im planning to lift the tiles ,self level with latex, and lay the
floor with pressure sensitive adhesive. do i need to prime the
concrete before latex if so what with? and then do i need to prime
the latex before the adhesive?
Also can i lay the latex in two parts ( i have all downstairs to do)or
does it need to go down all at once. Any advice would be much
appreciated. Thanks

Why go to the trouble of removing the tiles?

Can't you just level what you've got an cover the result with the new
flooring?

Joseph Meehan wrote:
... As noted, beware of asbestos. Also any moisture issues need to be
addressed by keeping the water away. You need to keep it away from
the OUTSIDE of the foundation.

Forgot to add. The floor is likely cool. That means any moisture in
the air will condense there. What you see may well be from condensation.


--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

jim wrote:
Hi, i will soon be laying karndean vinyl floor planks in my house, it
is a 1946 semi and i am concerned whether it has a dpm under the
concrete floor, it has old black tiles down at the moment which i
found under the carpet not sure what they are made of but they are
brittle and blown on the corners (white dust around the edges), they
seem quite well fixed to the concret floor, it looks there is bitumen
on some of the tiles, does anyone know the likelihood of ther e being
a dpm under the concrete for this age of house. I dont have any damp
problems other than the white dust around the edges of these old
tiles, which i think is due to damp of some sort, and i dont want to
lay new floor without treating the concret first. would bitumen do
the job if i spread sand over the top before i put self level
compound down?

Im planning to lift the tiles ,self level with latex, and lay the
floor with pressure sensitive adhesive. do i need to prime the
concrete before latex if so what with? and then do i need to prime
the latex before the adhesive?
Also can i lay the latex in two parts ( i have all downstairs to do)or
does it need to go down all at once. Any advice would be much
appreciated. Thanks

As noted, beware of asbestos. Also any moisture issues need to be
addressed by keeping the water away. You need to keep it away from the
OUTSIDE of the foundation.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

Hmmm, yes i could have levelled on top of old tiles, but i have taken
half of them up now, erm asbestos! wish id known before hand, they are
coming up easy with a rotary stop chiseller, but if they contain
asbestos then i have most certainly inhaled some (.
Local builders yard told me to paint bitumen on concrete then levelling
compound then tiles.
Does this sound ok?

jim wrote:
Hmmm, yes i could have levelled on top of old tiles, but i have taken
half of them up now, erm asbestos!
wish id known before hand, they are
coming up easy with a rotary stop chiseller, but if they contain
asbestos then i have most certainly inhaled some (.

Look on the bright side - you no longer have to floss.

jim wrote:
Hi, i will soon be laying karndean vinyl floor planks in my house, it
is a 1946 semi and i am concerned whether it has a dpm under the
concrete floor, it has old black tiles down at the moment which i found
under the carpet not sure what they are made of but they are brittle
and blown on the corners (white dust around the edges), they seem quite
well fixed to the concret floor, it looks there is bitumen on some of
the tiles, does anyone know the likelihood of ther e being a dpm under
the concrete for this age of house. I dont have any damp problems other
than the white dust around the edges of these old tiles, which i think
is due to damp of some sort, and i dont want to lay new floor without
treating the concret first. would bitumen do the job if i spread sand
over the top before i put self level compound down?

Im planning to lift the tiles ,self level with latex, and lay the floor
with pressure sensitive adhesive. do i need to prime the concrete
before latex if so what with? and then do i need to prime the latex
before the adhesive?
Also can i lay the latex in two parts ( i have all downstairs to do)or
does it need to go down all at once. Any advice would be much
appreciated. Thanks

The white dust is probably from the carpet adhesive - fiber to backing.
If the old tile is 9" square it is highly likely it is asbestos tile.
If it is 12" tile, it could be but probably not.
Asbestos is like many other "hazardous" materials. If 100 people had
the same exposure, much less than 10% would be affected. It all
depends on how your body reacts to it.

Yes they are 9" . The white dust is the concrete and it is around the
edges of the tiles i think it is where moisture from the air has got to
the concrete between the gaps. The concrete is actually very dry, i
just want to make sure it stays dry.
Oh well i may as well take up smoking. )

Ok there are ways to take the tiles up safely.
First you dont want to destroy the old tiles and making
them into powder. That makes it airborne. What you
can do is scrape them up with a scraper. If they are old
and the adhesive is crap then they just pop up.
Oh and by the way... The adhesive can contain asbestos too.
I would spray the tiles down with some water to keep airborne nasties
to
a minumum. A good dust mask is good idea too. (respirator is normally
recommended)

I would use a good fan in the window (blowing out) and seal off
the area to make some negative pressure... This is so the crap
doesnt spread to the rest of the house.

Take the old tiles, put them into boxes and seal them well.
Give the garbage men a nice tip and let them take it away!

Now the problem you have is the old adhesive on the floor.
Home Depot and Lowes do make solvents that break that stuff
down and make it mushy. Its pretty easy to scrape it up.
Once the floor is clean and most if not all the adhesive is up I
would use a nice adhesive from HD or lowes to make those
vinyl tiles stick well. If the flooring is not level, the do make
stuff to help with that and make it flat.

Hope this helps!
Tom

jim wrote:
Yes they are 9" . The white dust is the concrete and it is around the
edges of the tiles i think it is where moisture from the air has got to
the concrete between the gaps. The concrete is actually very dry, i
just want to make sure it stays dry.
Oh well i may as well take up smoking. )