[aribert]

Greetings all:

My current project house (to become a future rental, I already have an existing tenant waiting to upgrade to this house) has the 9x9 floor tiles in the basement. Some tiles are missing where a prior owner opened the slab to add a bath and also there are some loose / missing tiles around the laundry tub and a floor drain.

Somewhere recently I saw a floor coating product advertised for use over vinyl tile. Maybe it was the RockSolid paint line. For some reason I thought what I saw advertised was an epoxy material and without further investigation I bought a gallon of Rustoleum Basement EpoxyShield and had it custom tinted. Afterward I began my research on tips and tricks prior to applying the material and I read that it should not be used over vinyl tile. I contacted the EpoxyShield tech line and sure enough - not over vinyl tile.

Do any of you have experience with this (or a similar epoxy product) applied to floor tile? Good or bad. If good, how long has it been since application?

The location for the proposed epoxy paint is in the basement laundry - roughly a 10 x 10 ft area with flooring that is about 75% vinyl tile and the balance is a Portland based speedpatch to level out the tile step or the prior slab repair. As prep work so far, I have washed the floor twice with garage/driveway cleaner; rinsed and followed with a phosphoric acid based floor cleaner/etcher (for the speedpatch & base concrete) followed by aggressive rinsing and have allowed the floor to thoroughly dry.

Is the issue with the water based epoxy bonding to vinyl tile an issue of the tiles being too smooth? Being 9x9 inch tiles, I have to assume that they contain asbestos and scuffing them is not an option. I have spilled lacquer thinner on these types of tiles in the past and was able to soften the surface of the tiles - I am wondering if I could chemically "etch" them prior to painting. The house is vacant so it would not be a big deal to shut off the furnace for a day and shut off the HW tank pilot and wipe the floor with a solvent, let it evaporate and then apply the epoxy.

Your thoughts?

 

[jimn]

Most coatings are going to need a rough surface to adhere. The big issue here is this tile likely contains asbestos. You do not want to be sanding the surface to get some coating to stick to it. That would release a lot on asbestos fiber into your house. That also being said, any coating is not like to encapsulate the asbestos as it can still break the original bond. Now you have loose coated piece of asbestos floor tile. The mastic used to glue the tile down likely contains asbestos as well. The best method is to remove it properly and dispose of it. Alternatively you could build a floating floor above it or do like the prior clown did in my house, glues a piece of sheet vinyl over it. Now I have sheet vinyl glued to asbestos. Which of course will complicate the removal process and increase the quality of asbestos waste that needs to be disposed of.

 

[Gymschu]

That's an awful lot of work to cover some old vinyl tile. It would be much easier to lay new tile over top and call it done. Most coatings that I know of have a hard time sticking to vinyl. I would go to Lowe's, buy some remnant vinyl tile on the cheap, put down some underlayment and install the new tile. This would be a better looking solution compared to painting over it IMO.