Filler?

[The Medway Handyman]

I want to lay some self adhesive vinyl floor tiles over some existing floor tiles.

The existing tiles are the very brittle vinyl asbestos ones and have cracked where carpet gripper has been removed. Bits of tile are missing & I reckon it will look pants if I tile over the gaps.

Only two options I can see are to remove all the tiles including old adhesive - which will be a pig of a job, or to fill the gaps with something.

Its going to be in a very thin section of filler & will need to bond to the adhesive. It will also need to be fairly quick drying, but remain workable for long enough to get it flush without sanding.

Any suggestions?

I'm thinking of the old standby on the group - car body filler.

[EricP]

I was rushing to give that answer when you churlishly gave it yourself.

It will pong a bit but not for long.

[Rod]

I have used so-called self-levelling compound for precisely this purpose but that does take quite a while to dry thoroughly.

When last we had a carpet laid downstairs (onto a similar tiled concrete floor), the fitter used some glue/compound to stick the gripper battens down across the doorways. This had that wondeerful high volatile hydrocarbons smell and seemed to set in minutes. For a small area, I think this would work brilliantly. But I do not know what it is called. Maybe ask a carpet fitter?

[Lobster]

That would be a solvent-based 'no-more-nails'; I think that would do the job but not sure how easy it would to spread it flat and smooth? Body filler would be my choice I think.

Self-levelling compound doesn't work too well if it's very thin, especially with a poor substrate: I'd avoid that here.

David

[Rod]

David,

No - I didn't mean No-more-nails/Gripfill/Pink stuff. It is a much thinner substance - in some ways more akin to solvent weld stuff - but light buff colour. It only took a few minutes to set solid. And I think it is thin enough to flow out completely so could work very well.

[Lobster]

Oh, OK... no idea what that is: pretty sure my fitter used ordinary pinkstuff for this job.

David

[Rod]

Just found what *might* be it:

See "Rapidbond Adhesive" (link below) or, just above it, "Gripper Adhesive" (which is somewhat cheaper but slower-curing).

There must be many other suppliers and similar products.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I think that levelling compound might be better actually.

I would scratch up as much as comes up easily, and do the whole ruddy floor.

[George]

How much is carbody filla these days? Dry-wall adhesive is about £5 a 25kg bag and it sticks to a wide range of surfaces,has good adhesion and sets rock hard. Justas good as car body filla but you get a whole lot more than a tin of the carbody filla.

[Stuart Noble]

Absolutely. It takes a while to cure in thin layers because not as much heat is generated. Also worth noting that even a tiny amount of catalyst will cure it eventually providing it's thoroughly mixed. Not helpful when some manufacturers make it the same colour as the resin though

[Stuart Noble]

You could repair your car with plaster then? Also, it doesn't set in 5 minutes, which is kind of the point here. I paid about £15 for a 3.5 kg tin last time, but you need to find a pukka trade place rather than a car accessory shop

[George]

message

No I said it was just as good as car body filla ie for the floor and to be honest we're talking filling in a 1mm surface in various places where the tiles have come up and cracked. Dry-wall adhesive will set within 5 minutes at a 1mm thickness.

[stephen.hull]

[snip]

The best type of car filler for this purpose would be a Polyester base, a bit like;

fillers use talc which are easier to rub and remain more flexible than the cheapo rock hard chalk type fillers.

The catalyst is a different colour which makes mixing easier too.

Stephen.

[Stuart Noble]

They're all polyester, and talc is as hard as any other mineral to rub down. Bondaglass do a cheapo "lite" filler, based on microspheres, which is much easier. AFAIK the flexibility is down to the resin rather than the aggregate. It's a different type to the ones used in GRP work.