My wife wants our basement floor tiled. The current floor is 40 year old cement with a coat of gray paint. The paint is older than when we moved-in, 7 years ago. I do not know what kind of paint, it is, however, the paint is a flat color, not a shiny surface paint.
Couple of questions (well, actually 3 questions);
Can I tile over a painted floor, if so, what is the best method to prepare the cement surface?
Ceramic or porcelin tiles? Is there an advantage to either?
I had a 600 sqft concrete patio slab, previously painted and lots of 1/8" cracks. It is exposed to the rain. The paint was in good shape (not flaking off)
I used fairly large (16") tiles in order to bridge the cracks. The contractor used a rotary sander to go over the paint, to roughen it up. He then applied some blue goop (with a big swab) to absorb any future movement of the cracks in the slab. They used the cement-based paste to glue down the tiles. (Thinset?)
It's been three years and all is well. Looks great. No tiles popping up or cracks anywhere. YMMV
Ceramic tile on a concrete slab is going to be pretty cold mid- winter...
DAGS on your subject and you'll get lots of hits that say don't tile directly over a painted surface. What's the Thinset going to bond to...the paint? Not the securest of surfaces.
2 options to consider:
1 - Lay down cement board and attach it to the slab with a Ramset or other power-fastener.
2 - Rent a concrete scarifier and remove most of the paint and rough up the concrete so the Thinset can bite.
I do not have an opinion of whether the tiles will adhere to a painted surface, but I will say that I would err on the side of caution. The tile and labor is substantial, you do not want to redo this once it is finished.
You should be fine provided the surface is roughed up a little. Ceramic or porcelain is fine. But I agree with the other poster. It will get cold down in that basement in Detroit, unless its super insulated and has a lot of heat. Laminate flooring is a good alternative.
Cold?? Dogs freeze to fire hydrants here in the WInter. Al Gore would change his mind on Gloal Warming if he visited here in mid- February.
Ceramic cannot be colder than bare cement n the basement. The basement is heated enough to wear a T-Shirt in the Winter, so I am no concerned about it being too cold in the room.
Would have concerns about the backer board "flexing" under the tiles?
Is this a common machine that my local rent-a-center would have in stock? Will this mke a huge poder mess in the basement?
I think putting backerboard over concrete is a little overkill. I put tiles on my concrete den floor 5 years ago and its still solid. Even if the concrete is not perfect, the thinset can compensate for some small minor irregularities.
If you can wear a T-shirt down there in the winter time, then it sounds like you should be OK.
Use a belt sander to remove the paint. You'll need multiple belts, so get the bulk package of 60-grit. Wear a respirator. Close off the room with plastic. Tape over all vents. Suck everything up with a good shop vacuum with a filter.
When you're done, the concrete will be nicely textured for the tile.
The backerboard was not to compensate for irregularities - it was to insure that the thinset had something to adhere to other than the paint. If the paint delaminates, so will the thinset.
Removing most of the paint and roughing up the concrete is another option but a lot messier.
There are tradeoffs with all alternatives, including taking the chance of just tiling directly over the paint.
Rent one of those circular floor buffers and use some 60 grit pads. Keep all children, pets and breakable objects well out the area the first time you use one of those things. I've heard stories of people putting them through sliding glass doors!
We used to buff floors with them when I was in the service. A new recruit almost wiped out a rack of high tech navigation equipment the first time he turned one on. Luckily a nearby petty officer pulled the plug just in time.
The number one rule: Guide them, don't fight them.
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Agreed; no need to add more substrate beneath the tile.
Modren thinset is pretty amazing stuff; did you know that it can even be applied *directly* over Formica for kitchen counters? So I wouldn't worry about putting it over a painted surface.
re: "Modren thinset is pretty amazing stuff; did you know that it can even be applied *directly* over Formica for kitchen counters?"
You can apply it directly over *anything* but that doesn't mean it will be a quality installation.
All the thinset is going to do is bond the tile directly to the formica (or paint). It's is not going to penetrate the formica (or paint) so if the formica (or paint) is not securely bonded to the substrate, you will never achieve a firm bond.
I'd be less concerned about putting tile directly over a formica countertop than a painted floor, as long as I was sure that the formica was securely bonded to the substrate.
If you have ever seen peeling paint on a concrete floor, you'd understand why most people say that you should remove most of the paint so that thinset comes in direct contact with the concrete. Roughing up the concrete is an added bonus that I'll agree might not be needed with modern thinset, but certainly won't hurt the adhesion.
The reason some people suggest backerboard in this situation is merely because it is an alternative to the labor required and the mess created by removing the paint. For all we know, the house is old enough that the paint on the floor is lead. Throw down some backerboard, RamShot it down, and you're good to go. You probably don't even need to tape the seams since you're not going to get too much movement from the slab.
My wife retired rom her job as a security director at the Mall in our city. Years ago, one of the mall cops transfered out of security and into ground maintenance. He was buffing floors with a circular buffer, for the first time, and the buffer took him for a ride until crashing through the plate glass window of a store front. You can imagine the cartoons that were posted in the locker room of this incident.
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