DIYbanter - View Single Post

wrote in message . ..
On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 00:05:17 +0000 (UTC), "emv"
wrote:
Interesting co-incidence. My neighbour has just pondered the same
problem after lifting his vinyl floor and finding bitumen underneath.
He spent an hour or so trying to scrape it off, and tried a few other
things. Then he read the instructions on the adhesive he'd bought to
go with the new tiles. It said "Can be used on bitumen".

MJ

My entire ground floor is concrete with bitumen covering. There is
absolutely no problem tiling over this. It does not need to be lifted
providing there is a good bitumen to concrete bond and the bitumen is
properly keyed (Pva works okay). In my case if I found any
cracked/porous areas I carefully cut them back to sound material and
filled with mortar.

Problems can arise as a result of carpet gripper rods being fixed as
the bitumen is too hard and becomes brittle at the edges when nails
are hammered in. This is all very well for tiling purposes, however I
wouldn't be too certain that a flat enough surface could be obtained
for overlaying with wood/laminates. I haven't personally tried
levelling compound on top but I would imagine that it might not 'take'
to the bitumen surface. Perhaps keying with series of drilled holes
and pva, just not sure.