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Ceramic Tile on Concrete Pad -- General Advice

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  • Ceramic Tile on Concrete Pad -- General Advice

    basement 2.jpgFirst off, if I am in the wrong thread, my sincere apologies. I am not here for DYI advice, but I was so impressed with the knowledge base of so many of you that I thought I could get some general guidance.

    Our finished basement flooded and the the hardwood floor and plywood subfloor were ripped out. We are left with an exposed concrete pad that is mostly covered in tar (put on, presumably as part of the original flooring job). There are several divots in the concrete pad from where the subfloor was pulled up.

    The attached picture, taken during the demo of the floor, shows the general state of the concrete pad. You can see, near the door, the old flooring (plywood subfloor and hardwood) that had not yet been removed during the demo.

    The building is an old shoe factory that was built in the 1880s and converted to condos in the 1980s.

    Anyway, we want to install porcelain tile. We have had a few different people come by and each has a different recommendation for how the installation should be done:

    mud job (bonded or reinforced?)
    self-leveling concrete
    cement board
    ditra system
    thinset directly on the concrete pad

    Additionally, would the tar/mastic on the concrete have to be removed no matter what method is used for tiling?

    Without seeing the floor, does anyone have any general ideas or thoughts on when it is appropriate to use the different methods above? If there was some unanimity in the approach by the different contractors, I would not be inquiring here. The diversity of opinion leaves me very confused, though.

    Many thanks!

  • #2
    Re: Ceramic Tile on Concrete Pad -- General Advice

    You need to find a better contractor.

    First question: is the concrete floor flat and reasonably level? Has any of the contractors bothered to measure if it's flat?

    Second question; What is the black substance on the floor? Has any of the contractors identified it?

    Eliminate from consideration any contractor who has not provided the answer to the above 2 questions. Then get those 2 questions answered and the choice of installation method will be fairly easy to make. We can provide guidance.

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    • #3
      Re: Ceramic Tile on Concrete Pad -- General Advice

      Originally posted by robcohen06 View Post
      [ATTACH=CONFIG]30406[/ATTACH]

      Anyway, we want to install porcelain tile. We have had a few different people come by and each has a different recommendation for how the installation should be done:

      mud job (bonded or reinforced?)
      self-leveling concrete
      cement board
      ditra system
      thinset directly on the concrete pad

      Additionally, would the tar/mastic on the concrete have to be removed no matter what method is used for tiling?

      Without seeing the floor, does anyone have any general ideas or thoughts on when it is appropriate to use the different methods above? If there was some unanimity in the approach by the different contractors, I would not be inquiring here. The diversity of opinion leaves me very confused, though.

      Many thanks!
      If you mud the floor you have to deal with door heights and other issues of raising the floor level the 1-3/4" or so you are raising it. If you thinset the tile you will not get good adhesion to the mastic, I would remove it with a chemical stripper and use something like LC primer on the concrete.
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      • #4
        Re: Ceramic Tile on Concrete Pad -- General Advice

        Here is Florida, virtually all tile is laid directly on concrete. I get at least a call a week to repair cracked and/or tented tile. Anyone who lays tile directly on concrete without an uncoupling membrane is about to get some very bad news from me.

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