Hi All, I am currently renovating my house where the front room has a solid floor covered in what appears to be vinyl tiles stuck down with bitumen. A number of the tiles have already lifted, which I have removed, but need to work out what the best course of action is. I have introduced a partition in the room to make a hallway and I was hoping to lay real wood flooring there. The other side of the partition is a lounge where I wanted to lay normal carpet. My questions are: 1. Should I lift all the vinyl tiles or are they acting as the dpm? If I lift them, would it be advisable to lay a liquid DPM and then a Self levelling compound? 2. If I chose to leave the tiles in situ, are there any products which will bond with such a surface and if so, what? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. Andy
Different ways to go mate. But the way I would do it is - 1, take up the tiles 2. scrape as much adhesive as possible off the floor 3. Screed the floor with Ardex NA or f.ball stopgap green bag with 114 liquid 4. Lay Ardex dpm 1c or f.ball F75 ( 2 coats ) 5. Prime & Screed again with same same. Then lay amtico / Karndean in hall or float wood or laminate. Carpet won't have any problems.
as above but if its a solid wood dont float it ,fully stick it down ,if its an engeneered board then you can float it. you must uplift all the old tiles and remove as much adhesive as possible.
Hi Daz, Thanks for the quick response. I was worried you were going to say lift them but i guess its the proper way of doing the job! under point 5 you mention priming the floor - is there any particular one you would suggest? Thanks Andy
if your installing a solid wood floor then the bitumen needs to be completely removed and then a surface dpm product. If its a engineered product you may be able to float it. Do you know what flooring product you will be using as this will make the difference to the prep you need.
if bonding direct to floor you need a screed with high compression and tensile strength mostly these are water based although mapei's latexplan can be used
Well I'm planning on laying solid wood flooring in the hallway and carpeting the lounge. I accept that I'm going to have to lay levelling compound twice, but after already blowing the budget I'm trying to save a few pennies were I can. What are the best/reasonably priced materials? I've already looked at f-ball green bag and Its working out over £350! Any other suggestions?
There is a big difference there mate, green bag won't be strong enough and by the sounds of it you are baulking at the price to do it right
Is there any reason why you want a SOLID wood flooring? An ENGINEERED wood flooring is normally the same thickness, its still real wood and it normally can be sanded the same amount of times. The only way a professional can normally tell the difference between a solid wood flooring and a engineered wood floor is by the gaps that normally appear around winter time in a solid. In other words a Engineered actually looks better through the seasons.
I'm not baulking about doing the job right, but as I'm not a professional I am simply looking at all solutions/costs and will then try and make an informed decision on how to proceed. Why do you say green bag wont be strong enough?
What are you going to do regarding the necessary kit? Mixer with correct paddle Large mixing bucket Multicutter A2 trowel Screed trowel Spike roller Lo tack masking tape Chop saw Jig saw Hand tools +£10 credit on your phone (to ring someone when you feck it up)
use mapei latexplan, it's the ONLY latex based levelling compound strong enough to take a wood floor other than using a waterbased one
Would there be a problem using a water based screed? It seems from some of the replies latex SLC is not the way to go if using real wood flooring.
Nothing wrong with using a water mix screed as long as its the correct one if your laying it yourself at least get a professional to prep the floor you may do the best DIY job ever seen to man but if your floor isn't prepped correctly you will be getting an ear full from the mrs when it goes wrong
