Tiling basement bathroom - remove sticky tiles?

aldgagnon

We have a somewhat finished basement, as it was finished in the 1960 with sticky tiles then carpeted over. I want to put ceramic tiles down in the bathroom but have a few questions:

1) There are currently sticky tiles down over the entire floor. I'm assuming I should remove them so I can tile directly on the concrete. However, I'm worried these tiles may contain asbestos (going on what I've been told regarding tiles of those era). Ideas?

2) In the attached photo, what is the black stuff under the tiles? Old glue?

3) The house settled causing the basement to slant towards the front of the house. Should I level the bathroom / entire finished part out using self leveling cement?

Thanks for any help. I will really appreciate it.

sam floor

The black stuff is probably cutback adhesive which contains asbestos. Most likely, so do the tiles.

abefroman

Are the tiles 9"? If so they contain asbestos.

Tile over it.

The tile set will level account for it not being perfectly level, but if its really bad you will want to level it out first.

sam floor

Many of the 12" tiles also contained asbestos.

oh'mike

Those tiles will pop right off--They may contain asbestos so wear a proper mask--don't raise dust and use a heppa filter in your vacuum cleaner--google asbestos tile removal if you need further assurance.

The Cut back adhesive can be tiled over using Unmodified thinset with a liquid latex additive---

Or encapsulated with a self leveling compound ---For this situation I have used Jiffset and Linewebbers
latex additive---

Do read the label and call the customer service technical help line for exact use of any product.

abefroman

Easier to tile over them, then you don't have to worry about asbestos.

sam floor

If any of them are loose, you should not tile over them.

hyunelan2

Could you lay a layer of cement board over them, then tile? Don't know about this - just thinking out loud.

JazMan

NO, you don't install concrete board over a concrete floor.

Abe, what is "tile set"? Thin set maybe?

Asbestos doesn't care what size the tiles are. Tile with asbestos we available in all sizes and thicknesses. From 9x9x1/16 to much larger, thicker special order sizes. Even asphalt tiles were made in other than 9" squares.

Those are vinyl asbestos tiles, (looks like 12x12x1/16"), and as mentioned the black "tar" stuff is the adhesive. It's either cutback or asphalt emulsion. They contain asbestos. It's simple to remove the tiles safely yourself.

Get a long scrapper, similar to an ice chopper and pop the tiles. The tiles pose no hazard at all just don't sand them. Even then..........? You can tile over the black stuff, but with some preparation.

The manufacturers of thin set mortars want you to scrape as much of that adhesive as possible. They prefer you remove it until you can see concrete, so just a thin film is left. Use a wall paper scraper, has a razor cutter. Do NOT use solvent or chemicals.

Jaz

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aldgagnon

Thank you all for the help.

These tiles are 12x12 and are definitely coming loose. I feel that tiling over these will only cause problems later down the road. I'll be removing all of them and scraping as much of the black stuff up as possible.

I tried scraping a little bit off the concrete, but very little came off. I will give it a good scraping once all the tiles are removed. From what I understand, a little water and scraped will help remove the cutback.

Thanks again.

epson

I did the exact same thing on removing the same kind of tiles in an old condo about 2 years ago with no problems…