wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,
I have a kitchen floor I'm replacing the tile in. i popped a few tiles
and it looks like there's cement with wire mesh that the tile is stuck
to (sometimes they pop off without the cement, sometimes with).
underneath the mesh looks to be support beams. Before laying the new
tile how should i prepare the floor? it's an older building (1890, 1900
in nyc) so I don't want to rip up too much if I can avoid it.

-thanks in advance! -Dave


If the previous tile job were real old, it would have predated the cement
board used today. Instead it sounds like they used a bed or mortar with
wire lath layed in for reinforcement (still do it that way for shower pans).

I think you probably have to rip it back to the wood subfloor and start from
scratch using new cement board. If you can tolerate the extra height and
the tile comes up clean leaving most of that old substrate behind you can
try and tile back onto it but I think you will find it too uneven to be
worth it. You can also tile over the old tile but that is a real buildup in
height.