My tiler is leveling floor on old adhesive which he can't remove. Is this safe to do?

missile

It looks like tiles failed because there is movement in the floor. You need to resolve that issue or your new tiles will likely crack again.

I would not raise the floor. To do the job properly I would remove kitchen units and skirting then you should be able to remove the plywood, which ought to be screwed to the floor the floor(?).

Swasterix

john.h said:

If as it looks the floor has ply down and tiled before the kitchen was fitted you will never get it up. It also looks like you have about 50mm clearance under your appliances to play with. 

You can, because I’ve done it, but it was an absolute pig of a job. As someone mentioned previously, a long crowbar and some brute force won the day. Then an hour or two removing screws with tile adhesive clagged in the heads. Awful, but doable and will result in a better job. 

silvercar

I would get the new floor to go underneath your existing appliances. That’s the only way of guaranteeing that you can remove them.
How tall are you? In a previous home, the short previous owner had the worktop height reduced by 2 inches; very frustrating if you are relatively tall. Increasing the floor level would have the same effect.

grumbler

silvercar said:

I would get the new floor to go underneath your existing appliances.

Absolutely - any floor, higher or the same level. And not only under appliances, but even under the the base units. At least under adjustable plastic legs.

Jack_Bauer

FreeBear said:

Back of fag packet calculation (based on 10mm thick tiles), I'd reckon on a height gain of 25mm. Broken down - 3mm for self leveling compound, 3mm of adhesive, 5.5-7.5mm for the heated Ditra, 5-8mm of adhesive, then the tiles.

It looks like the original tiles have been laid on top of a sheet of plywood - If this is the case, then a crowbar + grunt work should get it up fairly cleanly. Then you can make a decision on what to do next. Looks like the original tiles go right under the units & appliances - This may well make things a little more interesting (problematic) if it is indeed plywood under that mess.

This comment was very helpful. Thank you. You are right, the tiles are 10mm thick and so are our new tiles. The adhesive that was used on the floor previously, the blobs are 2cm thick towards where the appliances are and less towards the other end where the door is. It really wasn't done well and the floors were not leveled properly at all. My tiler is saying its one of the worst jobs he's seen.

The reason the tiles moved was almost entirely due to the very poor adhesive and lack of ditra. I mean most of the tiles came off clean as can be seen in the picture below. They literally came clean off without breaking.

But you are right, we're looking at around 1.5 to 2cm height with the self leveling compound, adhesive and ditra which kind of works out perfect if we can get the existing adhesive off of the floor. which is around 1.5cm to 2cm in places. It should sit almost flush, give or take a few mm up or down and he can adjust with his self leveling compound as needed.

I've instructed my tiler to remove the adhesive at all costs and he has said he will try and get an industrial machine today to do this and start the removal process tomorrow, at an increased price mind you but he did allude to some movement in price as he wouldn't know what he would have to work with once the tiles were up.

I'd rather get it done properly than have another bodge job. Thanks for your input.

markin

A tile fitter that hasn't got an SDS drill with chisel? 

scottishblondie

Make sure all your cabinets are well protected before he goes at the floor.  Having been though getting that sort of stuff up, chunks could well go flying everywhere.

Niv

There will be dust, oh yes, there will be dust!

DiddyDavies

Niv said:

There will be dust, oh yes, there will be dust!

Dust won't be too much of a problem to protect against as a few flimsy plastic dust sheets taped over everything will do the job and dampening the floor with a light water spray will help a lot.
It's the large chunks of old adhesive that could end up scratching and denting the appliances and even smashing windows that will require good solid preventative protection .

john.h

Swasterix said:

john.h said:

If as it looks the floor has ply down and tiled before the kitchen was fitted you will never get it up. It also looks like you have about 50mm clearance under your appliances to play with. 

You can, because I’ve done it, but it was an absolute pig of a job. As someone mentioned previously, a long crowbar and some brute force won the day. Then an hour or two removing screws with tile adhesive clagged in the heads. Awful, but doable and will result in a better job. 

I have done it hundreds of times, it’s easy to get the ply up on a open floor, not so easy  under a kitchen. You need to remove any decor end panels and remove cabinet legs as you go along. It’s not easy getting a crowbar under a cabinet with only 150mm height to play with.