Hi
I live in a old terraced house. In the nhallway I lifted up the carpet to find (original?) red quarry tiles. All read -- no design/patterns
Not in a particulary good state with lots of chips. But the majority are stuck fast. About 2 or 3 are loose and can be liftted away.
I want to cover the floor with ceramic tiles. Should I remove all the tiles or can I simply remove the loos tiles level the floor and tile over. The floor seems sound in all other ways.
Many thanks
Bhupesh
bp wibbled on Tuesday 06 April 2010 21:19
The only danger with quarry tiles IME is that they may have been waxed which could mess up the adhesion of subsequent tiles.
OTOH, if they are old and haven't been waxed in living memory, it's probably all worn off as is the case with the few I have.
If the surface is wax free, you'll have no trouble tiling on top. Test a blob (say about 2-3" dia) of tile adhesive and see if it is trivial or difficult to remove after a few days setting.
You can tile over if they are sound. If they are highly glazed then roughening the surface with some coarse sandpaper can help.
One possible problem is the extra height - this may make for a step to other finished floor levels, or require doors be trimmed down.
Old tiles may have been laid without a damp course under them, check that there is no damp before laying new tiles over them. Suggest you lay a piece of glass on them sealing the edges with putty or some such sealant, if you have rising damp it will condense out on the under surface of the glass. Don
I've just dug up a kitchen floor that was quarry tiles. It was layed on compressed ash - almost looked like a seam of coal - which formed an almost impermeable layer and did a good job at resisting damp. But worth checking as described above. And use an cement-based adhesive suitable for swimming pools. Simon.
Yes, I did that recently on some sheet vinyl. Impossible to get the tile adhesive off the vinyl after 24 hours.
I had the same problem recently. I detergent-washed them well, then painted the tiles with SBR before a layer of self-levelling (applied while the SBR is tacky) to fill in the chips, grout lines etc., before tiling. Use a cement based adhesive.
If you try to remove the old tiles, you will find they are bedded in mortar, and after many years this will be b......y hard to chip off. If you decide to go that route, make sure you have a good SDS chisel, and be prepared to take a while.
R.
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