Hi,

I'm loooking for advice on prepping a floor ready for laying Amtico. I'm laying Amtico Contour tiles which are 4mm thick and more rigid than normal Amtico.

I've done a lot of reading of this and other forums/websites but seem to have more questions than answers. As this is clearly the most informed of the forums I thought I'd look to you for guidance.

The floor is for a kitchen and recently added conservatory that joins onto the kitchen.

The kitchen is nominally 20sqm, the floor is concrete with screed, topped with a thin SLC and finally a cushion vinyl floor covering that just lifts off.

The SLC is not IMO smooth enough for laying Amtico though it is pretty level.

The conservatory which is a new addition is a similar size with concrete floor and about 75mm sand/cement screed which is reasonably level but is beginning to hairline crack in the middle now that it is coming to the end of its drying out.
Around the cracks it sounds slightly hollow when I tap it but I guess that is what one might expect.


1) I was going to go for a water based SLC but now that it is cracking I'm considering using latex. Your thoughts?

2) Should I do anything about the cracks like rake out a bit and epoxy?

3) Their are so many makes of SLC, and they vary in prce and availability. Currently I'm looking at F Ball, Cementone or Ardex. Mapei is difficult to get unless your in the trade and I'm not. Cementone I'm put off because the tech guy said use PVA not primer, probably because they don't make a primer. For the beginner which is easiest to use?

4) Mapei tech support guy said to use a copper sanding disc on the conservatory floor. Is this really necessary or will a good brush with a hard broom followed by a primer be adequate?

5) Should I spend £40 on a spikey roller or should I accept that I will have to work it with a carborundum stone anyway and just buy a stone, or should I buy both?

6) I want to lay the SLC in two halves. Assuming this is OK then should I fix a batten down and lay the SLC to the batten then continue, or just feather the edge ready to continue?


Sorry for so many questions but I've never laid SLC and I do want to get it right. Quotes to get the job done professionally are around £3500. I reckon I can get the tiles, HT adhesive and grout for around £1200 so I have to assume its not a simple job. But as I can't afford £3500 I have no choice but to do it myself.


Thanks in advance,

Tim

hi there,i've spoke to 2 peeople who have problems with amtico floor being laid directly onto concrete,one of them has had the amtico people out every year for the last few years to see why parts of her floor have kept coming loose(they can't give a definate answer to why this has been happening),however people that have ply lined the floors first have not had any problems,just something to bear in mind before laying this!

i fit karndean and i would not expect a diy to be able to smooth a floor out to the required standard for karndean or amtico

1) I was going to go for a water based SLC but now that it is cracking I'm considering using latex. Your thoughts? WATER BASED WILL BE FINE F BALL IS GOOD UTZIN BETTER

2) Should I do anything about the cracks like rake out a bit and epoxy? NO FILL WITH SKIM COAT F BALL DO ONE

3) Their are so many makes of SLC, and they vary in prce and availability. Currently I'm looking at F Ball, Cementone or Ardex. Mapei is difficult to get unless your in the trade and I'm not. Cementone I'm put off because the tech guy said use PVA not primer, probably because they don't make a primer. For the beginner which is easiest to use? MAKE SURE YOU PRIME THE FLOOR AFTER YOU HAE GIVEN IT A BLOODY GOOD CLEAN ALSO GET RID OF ANY PLASTER RESIDUES

4) Mapei tech support guy said to use a copper sanding disc on the conservatory floor. Is this really necessary or will a good brush with a hard broom followed by a primer be adequate? BROOM HOOVER SOFT BRUSH HOOVER

5) Should I spend £40 on a spikey roller or should I accept that I will have to work it with a carborundum stone anyway and just buy a stone, or should I buy both?
YES A SPIKEY ROLLER ALSO A COMBINGTROWEL WITH 5MM NOTCHES ALSO YOU WILL PROBABLY NEED A STONE

6) I want to lay the SLC in two halves. Assuming this is OK then should I fix a batten down and lay the SLC to the batten then continue, or just feather the edge ready to continue? NO ONE HIT


Sorry for so many questions but I've never laid SLC and I do want to get it right. Quotes to get the job done professionally are around £3500. I reckon I can get the tiles, HT adhesive and grout for around £1200 so I have to assume its not a simple job. But as I can't afford £3500 I have no choice but to do it myself.


YOU PAYES YOU MONEY YOU TAKE YOUR CHANCE

where are you based

Just as an aside to this, Mapei Fiberplan dries almost billiard table smooth!

Thanks for taking the time to reply. It is appreciated.

Originally Posted by chrisroe

i fit karndean and i would not expect a diy to be able to smooth a floor out to the required standard for karndean or amtico

Lets hope I can prove you wrong .

I've never heard of Utzin - I did a google and found nothing. As for stopgap I have found a friendly supplier that will do me stopgap 300 for £17 inc a bag.

I live in Guildford, Surrey.

Originally Posted by grumpygrouter

Just as an aside to this, Mapei Fiberplan dries almost billiard table smooth!

Unfortunately I can't source Mapei cos all their local distributors only sell to the trade. Maybe someone knows a DIY friendly distributor near Guildford or Maidenhead.

If I'm going to prep 40sqm of floor and fit Amtico to it you'd have thought that almost entitles to free membership to the club

Tile giant or Tile it all will get you some mapei fibre plan..... thell them tilers forums sent you..

In the chats i have had with a kardean and Amitco floor layer you will need a different glue for conservatory use, so that it copes with the heat.... expansion contraction sort of thing...

I've never heard of Utzin - I did a google and found nothing. As for stopgap I have found a friendly supplier that will do me stopgap 300 for £17 inc a bag.

I live in Guildford, Surrey.[/quote]


Its spelled UZIN

www.uzin.co.uk

I assume your screed is cement:sand and not Anhydrite otherwise prep materials will need to be different

If anhydrite - Uzin PE360 primer and NC110 leveller (other brands are available)

dyslexia strikes again uzin thats the one

high temp glue for connie floors plus you will need a hand roller as well

Originally Posted by Ajax123

Its spelled UZIN

www.uzin.co.uk

I assume your screed is cement:sand and not Anhydrite otherwise prep materials will need to be different

If anhydrite - Uzin PE360 primer and NC110 leveller (other brands are available)

Thanks for the Uzin link I'll check them out. As for the screed, it is just a sharp sand/cement screed.

Originally Posted by chrisroe

dyslexia strikes again uzin thats the one

high temp glue for connie floors plus you will need a hand roller as well

Yep, roller is on the shopping list as well as HT adhesive. Not much difference in price between HT and standard adhesive. Would you just use HT adhesive throughout, conservatory and kitchen?

Originally Posted by TeeKay

Hi,

I'm loooking for advice on prepping a floor ready for laying Amtico. I'm laying Amtico Contour tiles which are 4mm thick and more rigid than normal Amtico.

Sorry for so many questions but I've never laid SLC and I do want to get it right. Quotes to get the job done professionally are around £3500. I reckon I can get the tiles, HT adhesive and grout for around £1200 so I have to assume its not a simple job. But as I can't afford £3500 I have no choice but to do it myself.

Thanks in advance,

Tim

Tim - You are either a very brave talented DIYer with plenty of spare cash or a man who can read with plenty of confidence!
I doubt if you can get 40m of Amtico for under £30 per metre and I've yet to see a Grouted Amtico floor.

IMO get it done by a Registered Amtico installer with all the guarantees or if its too expensive get the real deal - Travertine/porcelain/ceramic.

Have fun.

Timeless John.

Originally Posted by timeless john

Tim - You are either a very brave talented DIYer with plenty of spare cash or a man who can read with plenty of confidence!
I doubt if you can get 40m of Amtico for under £30 per metre and I've yet to see a Grouted Amtico floor.

IMO get it done by a Registered Amtico installer with all the guarantees or if its too expensive get the real deal - Travertine/porcelain/ceramic.

Have fun.

Timeless John.

Timeless John,

Thanks for your comments. I am pretty tenacious and willing to try my hand at most things and thankfully I generally succeed. I also enjoy doing DIY. I hope this won't be my undoing. I'll let you know how it goes truthfully.

Yes I do a lot of research. For example I spoke to F Ball today to ensure that stopgap 300 was the most suitable of their products for my application. In that discussion it came out that they are very doubtful that the new conservatory floor is anything like dry enough yet for laying Amtico on. I explained that one fitter I had to estimate the job checked the RH and said it was OK, but they explained in detail why that measurement was probalby flawed. My point is that I'm not infallable, but I do do my research, such as soliciting what is clearly very useful input from people such as yourself, and then proceed considering that input.

Actually its because I don't have plenty of spare cash that I'm looking to do it myself. It would be much easier to employ someone to do it.

But am I missing something. My feeling is that the challenge to laying amtico is prepping the floor so it is very level and smooth. I don't think this will be easy but I think it will be doable, and it will be obvious if it is or isn't. Am I missing something or just over optimistic that I can either get it flat enough or judge that it is flat enough?

A quick google for Amtico Contour and you'll see it for £20 psqm. and this is what I base my calcs on. But I don't understand your comment about the grouted floor. Are you saying that the amtico Contour system doesn't work in your experience?

Finally the reason I don't want to go for real tiles is that they are cold. Everyone I know who has real tiles in a conservatory says they wish they hadn't. I could have put underfloor heating down but I went for a heat pump air con unit due to its efficiency. For those who don't know they are incredibly efficient, cheaper even than gas c/h. 1 kw of electricity in and you can get typically about 4kw of heat out, but enough on that.

Tim

teekay

as darth vader said

Impressive most impressive but you are not an amtico fitter yet

well he sort of said that

average time for connie floors to dry out is 6 to 8 weeks for karndean

i do lend out my karndean spare kit for a fee plus postage if you want so let me know if this helps

Originally Posted by chrisroe

teekay

as darth vader said

Impressive most impressive but you are not an amtico fitter yet

well he sort of said that

average time for connie floors to dry out is 6 to 8 weeks for karndean

i do lend out my karndean spare kit for a fee plus postage if you want so let me know if this helps

Thanks. I'll PM you for further details.