Hello DIY and pro people!
I'm new here.
I live in a condo, on the second floor, and under the carpet the floor is painted, and beneath the paint is a layer of concrete (not sure how thick) that has some hairline cracks in it. In a few places, the floor has squeaks (go figure).
We want to put down Porcelain tile, and I've gotten two different answers from tile installers about how it will be done:
Tile guy 1 (Lowes installer... came to our house) says he just needs to "rough up" the paint in order to get the thinset to bond to the floor, and that no backerboard is needed. When I asked about fixing the squeaks, he said that if it were wood, he'd screw it down, but that you can't do that with a layer of concrete. I asked him if he knew why it would be squeaking, he said he did not know.
Tile guy 2 (Newport Carpet & Tile... has not been to our house) says that backerboard is definitely needed because that concrete layer will not properly support the tile. I asked him how he would bond the backboard to the floor, and he said thinset and screws (wouldn't the paint need to come up for that thinset bond to happen?). I did not ask if he would be removing the paint first.
In any case, I've read that no matter what, the paint has to come up in order for the surface to be bondable. Neither party is really telling me what I want to hear, and their price estimates are within $300.00 of each other, even though: the tile is the same price, and Tile guy 1 supposedly has a cheaper install per sq ft price than Tile guy 2, and would not need to purchase and install backboard.
Should I keep looking? I feel like the uppity customer telling them how to do their job if I question their methods.
With tile and install, this will be a $4,500+ purchase for us and we want it done right. We are a bit scared to leap into this magnitude of tile job as a first DIY project (475 sq ft) but we will do the bathrooms ourselves after watching the tile guys do it.
Thanks for any input, much appreciated...
-Nicole
I'm new here.
I live in a condo, on the second floor, and under the carpet the floor is painted, and beneath the paint is a layer of concrete (not sure how thick) that has some hairline cracks in it. In a few places, the floor has squeaks (go figure).
We want to put down Porcelain tile, and I've gotten two different answers from tile installers about how it will be done:
Tile guy 1 (Lowes installer... came to our house) says he just needs to "rough up" the paint in order to get the thinset to bond to the floor, and that no backerboard is needed. When I asked about fixing the squeaks, he said that if it were wood, he'd screw it down, but that you can't do that with a layer of concrete. I asked him if he knew why it would be squeaking, he said he did not know.
Tile guy 2 (Newport Carpet & Tile... has not been to our house) says that backerboard is definitely needed because that concrete layer will not properly support the tile. I asked him how he would bond the backboard to the floor, and he said thinset and screws (wouldn't the paint need to come up for that thinset bond to happen?). I did not ask if he would be removing the paint first.
In any case, I've read that no matter what, the paint has to come up in order for the surface to be bondable. Neither party is really telling me what I want to hear, and their price estimates are within $300.00 of each other, even though: the tile is the same price, and Tile guy 1 supposedly has a cheaper install per sq ft price than Tile guy 2, and would not need to purchase and install backboard.
Should I keep looking? I feel like the uppity customer telling them how to do their job if I question their methods.
With tile and install, this will be a $4,500+ purchase for us and we want it done right. We are a bit scared to leap into this magnitude of tile job as a first DIY project (475 sq ft) but we will do the bathrooms ourselves after watching the tile guys do it.
Thanks for any input, much appreciated...
-Nicole