Hi,
I have a job to tile a floor & put underfloor electric mat heating 200w/m.
The customer has carpet on the floor but unknown to me there were vinyl tiles hiding underneath. I contacted Bal & Laybond who both said i had to strip the vinyls & the adhesive, however Weber said it was safe to tile directly over espescially as i am putting down 6mm insulation from uheat first using rapidset flexi, then ufh set in 6mm latex followed by rapidset flexi & porcelain tiles. The alternative is to strip & latex over the adhesive, an extra job I know the customer doesnt want to pay for. has anyone any advice on leaving down the vinyl tiles (concrete floor underneath)
Thanks

Depends how well the tiles are stuck down and what addy type they are stuck down with. Bear in mind that if you put a heating mat over the top of them then the heat may soften the vinyl addy and they may lift bringing the new floor with them. Modern Vinyl addhesives generally work up to a maximum temperature of 27oC. If it is an older adhesive then I suspect this might be much lower. Quite a bit of risk here in my opinion. My advice would be to lift the vinyls and get back to substrate.
As for them paying for the extra work do they want a proper job or not. If you tile over the vinyl and then there is a problem later on it could cost you. If Weber say its ok then ask them to give you a guarantee in writing. I bet they will back down at that point.

Always take up the vinyl - even if you have to pay for it yourself!
Then do as per your preparation above

Timeless John

defo lift them mate!

thanks for all the replies which confirm my thoughts.
taking up all the adhesive will b a real pain & i dont think it is recommended it to use rapidset flexi over adhesive residue so is there a sealer that can be applied over this to give a satisfactory bond, I have used something in the past but cannot remember what ?

Originally Posted by Ed1

thanks for all the replies which confirm my thoughts.
taking up all the adhesive will b a real pain & i dont think it is recommended it to use rapidset flexi over adhesive residue so is there a sealer that can be applied over this to give a satisfactory bond, I have used something in the past but cannot remember what ?

Really depends on the addy under the tiles. If it is old fashioned it will probably a styrene based which means acrylic wont work. SBR or Epoxy probably safer. Think SBR acts as bonding agent too but not sure. Possibly Dunlop Primebond or sommat like that.

A slurry coat is good over old adhesives...

Didn't think of that - good idea dave

thanks guys
sounds like rip them up & slurry coat is the safest way to go, dont think weber would be prepared to offer guarantee based on their recomendation. First time of using this site & glad to be able to seek advice of pros.
Thanks
ED

ed, i have done something simular recently, again spoke to someone in the know at weber, would have normally taken up tiles, the fact i was laying insullation boards meant it was no problem. always best to check with the adhesives guys IMO

Hi there,interested to know what u actually did, how thick was your insulation, i am using 6mm ekoboard & 200w per square metre matting,
did you use weber adhesive onto vijnyl tiles, they told me the vinyl layer would act as an uncoupling layer between ceramic tiles & concrete floor so any movement isnt transferred between these layers, it did seem to make sense.
What do you think?
ed

hi ed, primed the vinyl with pr301 the used SPF over top to stick 10mm pcs boards (prefer to use 10mm instead of 6mm) down with, layed UFH mat, then covered with niveplus (flexi self leveller) once that set next day tiled using SPF again.
regards,
Ant

thanks for that Ant
Ed