Cindy wrote:
Hope someone can help me here...

When we bought this house, the old owner redid the kitchen floor prior to
selling the house because the old floor was in such bad shape. He decided
to use something around 5" ceramic tile, which is very slippery when wet and
my 9 year old falls constantly when he comes in the house. Now, when this
guy did the floor, he did it himself with help from some of his friends. He
never finished off the doorway areas and tile is coming up around those
places, plus, the grout or whatever it is in between the tiles is just
crumbling like crazy in other areas of the floor. It's a huge eat-in
country kitchen with a lot of flooring. What I was wondering is...how can I
get this stuff up? I see underneath in areas, the adhesive that is a mess
underneath. I'd like to have someone come in and lay new flooring properly,
with something less dangerous for a kitchen but I know they are going to
charge a fortune just to take the tiles up and clean up the mess underneath.
Anybody have any ideas on what I can use to get the adhesive off and get
these tiles removed without damaging what is left of the flooring
underneath? I don't mind putting in the effort to get it done right, I
would just prefer to cut the cost of what the installers would charge to
remove the old floor. The tiles were put down some time in 1999 or 2000, so
it isn't that old. It's just a mess. Any suggestions would be
appreciated...I can't stand having throw rugs all over the place to cover
this thing.

Thanks,

C.


What was type of floor is under the tile? From what I gather it was
laid over linoleum or something like that.

And, the adhesive. Did he stick the ceramic tile down with a adhesive.?
They are supposed to be set in a mortar.

From what you say the tile will come easy. Removal of an adhesive may
be a problem depending on what type it is. Then put down a good backer
board like Hardibacker before laying the tile.