floor tile shrinkage repair

The basement floor of my 50-year old house was covered with asphalt tile about 45 years ago. It has been covered with carpeting most of the last 40 years. A recent power outage and torrential downpour required removing some of the carpeting, in my workshop area. I would like to keep the 20' x 20' uncarpeted area uncarpeted.

The old floor is firmly attached to the underlying concrete, and is in pretty good condition except for surface dirt which I am pretty sure can be easily removed with a stiff scrubbing brush. My problem is that the tiles have shrunk over the 40 years and now there are gaps around each tile. The max gap is under 1/32=94. I would like to figure out how to fill in the cracks/space between the tiles, bringing the filler up to the level of the top of the tiles so that the =93cracks=94 don't fill up with the usual workshop floor dirt. Time to do the work is not a big issue, as I am sort of retired.

All suggestions will be considered.

Reply to
hrhofmann
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Grout?

Reply to
HeyBub

(sorry for the direct reply- still fighting with Tbird 5's annoying habit of sending as email, even when I was positive I had highlighted 'reply to group)

For a workshop, I'd look strongly at the stuff currently in fashion for repurposed retail space- the clear epoxy or urethane or whatever, that lets the remains of the old floor show through, but provides a rock-hard matte-finish continuous smooth surface. No idea if DIY kits are available- probably harder to put down than garage floor paint. Might call local commercial flooring place, and see if they do small jobs, especially if you can clear the space wall-to-wall, prep the surface, and mask the walls and transition areas.

Oh yeah- at 45 YO, and if they are 9x9 tiles, the odds are they are asbestos tile. Encapsulating in plastic is a perfectly legal abatement procedure for them.

I'd love to do something like that to my entire basement, but with my allergies, pulling up the half-disintegrated rainbow candystripe carpet (very trendy around 1970), and scraping the glue and padding residue, would probably kill me.

Reply to
aemeijers

The old floor is firmly attached to the underlying concrete, and is in pretty good condition except for surface dirt which I am pretty sure can be easily removed with a stiff scrubbing brush. My problem is that the tiles have shrunk over the 40 years and now there are gaps around each tile. The max gap is under 1/32?. I would like to figure out how to fill in the cracks/space between the tiles, bringing the filler up to the level of the top of the tiles so that the ?cracks? don't fill up with the usual workshop floor dirt. Time to do the work is not a big issue, as I am sort of retired.

All suggestions will be considered.

1/32"?? Workshop?? Why worry?
Reply to
Pat

The old floor is firmly attached to the underlying concrete, and is in pretty good condition except for surface dirt which I am pretty sure can be easily removed with a stiff scrubbing brush. My problem is that the tiles have shrunk over the 40 years and now there are gaps around each tile. The max gap is under 1/32?. I would like to figure out how to fill in the cracks/space between the tiles, bringing the filler up to the level of the top of the tiles so that the ?cracks? don't fill up with the usual workshop floor dirt. Time to do the work is not a big issue, as I am sort of retired.

All suggestions will be considered. ==============================================

Here's a video, which explains shrinkage.

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Reply to
Bing

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