Help! Bitumen nightmare

[Dee]

I have read the other threads on Bitumen and would really value some advice!!
As other members have said, the advice on removing bitumen is quite varied!
Our problem is that our tilers put down porcelain tiles on top of some old 1970 marley tiles in our hall (which they said they could not remove as they were really stuck down) and directly on to the bitumen where they did get them up. After about 15 months one of the tiles was wobbling so we took it up and discovered a brown oily substance on most of the tiles. The marley tiles were brittle and came up easily. The floor looks damp now (in fact the concrete is quite damp as may not have a DPM or it's not working). We think there has been a reaction of some sort though may check for a water main leak as well to be sure.
The question is what is best to do now? We have had these suggestions:

1 scrape off as much as possible with a wall scraper. level out with course grade sand cement and then apply epoxy floor resin, then leveliing compound and then adhesive
2 apply sealant over the bitumen and then a DPM and then tile on to that. Is this risky as may fail again?

Thanks for any help and sorry for long message....

In despair!

[GazTech]

I have read the other threads on Bitumen and would really value some advice!!
As other members have said, the advice on removing bitumen is quite varied!
Our problem is that our tilers put down porcelain tiles on top of some old 1970 marley tiles in our hall (which they said they could not remove as they were really stuck down) and directly on to the bitumen where they did get them up. After about 15 months one of the tiles was wobbling so we took it up and discovered a brown oily substance on most of the tiles. The marley tiles were brittle and came up easily. The floor looks damp now (in fact the concrete is quite damp as may not have a DPM or it's not working). We think there has been a reaction of some sort though may check for a water main leak as well to be sure.
The question is what is best to do now? We have had these suggestions:

1 scrape off as much as possible with a wall scraper. level out with course grade sand cement and then apply epoxy floor resin, then leveliing compound and then adhesive
2 apply sealant over the bitumen and then a DPM and then tile on to that. Is this risky as may fail again?

Thanks for any help and sorry for long message....

In despair!

Hello Dee welcome to the forums....
I can recommend this product highly....Gaz
RIW Toughseal - Coatings - Water Proof Barrier

[Dee]

Thanks Gaz
Would you recommend scraping off as much bitumen as possible first? And would you know if white spirit works to remove - suppose have to be careful as may soak bitumen down into concrete?!

Dee

[grumpygrouter]

Hi Dee, you may also want to consider using Ardex P82 epoxy primer. Remove (scrape) as much of the bitumen as possible and then prime with P82. It can take several hours to dry properly but it should then be ready for tiling or other prep work you might need to do.