Me and TheBullDoza are re doing the kitchen floor. We tore up the linoleum and plan to lay down tiles. But the paper/glue under the linoleum is pretty stubborn. Any TWW home remodelers have advice? Is it OK to just lay mortar on top of the paper? Or if we have to remove the paper, what would be a good way to do it? The internet has conflicting opinions about this.

8/8/2011 12:53:00 PM

What sort of tile are you laying? Ceramic? Slate?

Do you have particle board or a plywood base? We had particle board on top of plywood in our kitchen, with the linoleum attached to the particle board. We ripped the PB up, laid down cement board and went to town using mortar and the tile of choice.

8/8/2011 1:26:08 PM

put down the cement board over the stubborn/glue and subfloor. the cement board really lessens the chances of having cracked tiles and joints over time. houses and floors move a lot.

a lot people cheap out and skip this. I would highly recommend against it. also, rent/borrow a jamb saw from someone.

thank me later.

8/8/2011 1:47:22 PM

Get a floor scraper and put your back into it.
Hope it's not asbestos linoleum that you pulled up.
I would have just fired in a few rows of screws and tiled over it to begin with.

Cement board is an excellent surface for laying tile and it will smooth out the slight irregularities, but it's heavy and raises the floor making the transition from tile to whatever is in the adjoining rooms even more noticeable. Plus it's an added expense. There is a tradeoff to everything. DaBird's answer is probably more right though.

[Edited on August 8, 2011 at 2:29 PM. Reason : lo]

8/8/2011 2:26:42 PM

Related question: Does anyone know a good company to go through to get this done? I'm too lazy/not crafty enough to do this on my own.

8/8/2011 3:07:34 PM

^ Having tile done professionally is just freaking expensive because the contractors has to keep coming out to the site. At least a three day job. Maybe two if you do the surface prep. Tile is actually not difficult if you get the sub floor clean and level.

I do not live in Raleigh so I cannot recommend anyone, but I think you'll be shocked at the price you'll be quoted.

[Edited on August 8, 2011 at 3:23 PM. Reason : df]

8/8/2011 3:22:25 PM

I'm about to tile my bathroom so this thread interests me as well.

8/8/2011 3:37:24 PM

oops I should've mentioned that there's concrete underneath (house is on a slab, we're in Charleston where that's pretty common)

The house is only a few years old so I highly doubt the floor had asbestos! good call on the scraper. We're scraping now with a hand scraper and it's very labor intensive.

8/8/2011 6:11:14 PM

PS the tile is porcelain

8/8/2011 6:15:02 PM

I'm going to charleston this weekend. maybe i'll see you.

8/8/2011 6:36:48 PM

Quote :

"The house is only a few years old so I highly doubt the floor had asbestos! good call on the scraper. We're scraping now with a hand scraper and it's very labor intensive."

Oh yeah...It'll be all the difference in the world.

As long as the concrete is relatively level you can kind of fill in the gaps with extra thinset when you lay the tile. Keep a handful of spare tiles (they're only a couple bucks each) and if a tile ever cracks just pop it up and replace it with a little bit extra thinset in the low spot.

8/8/2011 9:43:26 PM

Yep with a concrete floor, the scraper will get the job done in an hour or so. Cleared a 600ish sq foot office like this years ago, the floor scraper is worth its weight in gold

8/8/2011 11:08:36 PM

no need for cement board on a slab either

8/9/2011 6:43:48 AM

Only thing I'd worry about with a relatively new concrete slab is any shifting or settling that occurs will crack your tile if you don't use a medium. But that's your call.

8/9/2011 7:08:20 AM

The floor scraper was an epic fail! It was actually worse than the hand scraper. So we went ahead and rented an electric scraper that did the job, cost $113. The house/linoleum is only 2 years old so maybe that's why the glue is so stubborn.

ncsujen07, like others have said a contractor will charge $texas. In our area they wanted $3.99 per sq ft, which didn't include the cost of tiles! Doing it yourself will save hundreds of dollars. It's been a lot of work though.

Smath74, we have a big kitchen and two of us worked 2 hours to scrape about a quarter of the total area. It would've taken days to finish it! But for a normal size bathroom I would tough it out and just hand scrape. You can get a better angle on your hands and knees, also a hand tool would be better for a small space like the bathroom. We used this tool. It came with 3 replacement blades.

8/9/2011 3:44:58 PM

Quote :

"Only thing I'd worry about with a relatively new concrete slab is any shifting or settling that occurs will crack your tile if you don't use a medium. But that's your call."

great point. you should be fine if it is an older slab (+ 1 year)

however, no medium will sustain a slab that moves a lot.

8/9/2011 9:47:50 PM