Our kitchen floor is covered in vinyl floor tiles, probably Marley, stuck down with black stuff. They are probably original from when the house was built in 1973. Quite a few of them are breaking up now, and as I'm going to be refurbing the kitchen this summer I'd like to at least have the floor level to avoid problems with bits of tile missing. How difficult is it to remove these tiles, and does it involve heat to melt the black gluey stuff?
Kitchen floor tilies
May 05, 2009
1 Replies
I did it a few years ago, it's quite difficult. I found that the best method was to apply heat to melt the adhesive and then lever them off using a spade or similar object. I used a steam wallpaper stripper to heat the tiles.
After I'd got them off, I was left with a screed that was damaged because it lifted off in parts still attached to the tiles leaving holes in the screed. I then blinded the adhesive that was still attached to the floor with dry fine sand ( I used silver sand) which meant I could walk on it without leaving my shoes stuck to the floor. I then used self levelling compound over the whole floor, not forgetting to reverse out through the exit door :-) so that I didn't walk on it until the self levelling compound had set. I'm not saying it's the best method but it worked for me. Hope this helps Good Luck Don
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