Kitchen floor tile job

[navychop]

After putting it off – er, saving up, for some years, we’ve now begun to gut and rebuild our kitchen. The floor is first. The goal is to lay 6”x24” ceramic tiles over the entire kitchen, including where the new cabinets and dishwasher will be. I have removed the cruddy, shoddily installed sheet vinyl and the luan level underneath. We now have avocado green 12” square tiles, VCT I think, which was directly attached to the plywood subfloor. All is level, except for a small section near the outside door.

Normally you would not put thinset and backer board directly over such tiles. However, as in so many other areas, there is some difference of opinion. The pendulum is now swinging toward more acceptance of this practice. But I have removed some tiles by the outside door, attempting to reduce the rise there, and exposed black adhesive. Thinset apparently will not stick to that, and removal of such adhesive requires a pact with the devil. In any event, I believe if I cover the entire floor with ½” plywood, I can reduce any adhesion problems to both tile and black adhesive. By the back door I can put thinner wood or CBU (& maybe a little thinset), to make it as level as possible before laying down thinset and backer board.

Anyone here done this kind of work? Any comments or suggestions? Yes, I’m asking on a couple of tile forums also, but responses there are few and slow. I thought I'd give it a shot here at "home" also.

 

[lakebum431]

If you end up putting some kind of wood down then make sure that you screw it dow so that you don't end up with creaks under your new floor. But what you're planning should work fine.

 

[navychop]

Thank you. We ended up pulling all the tile up. Some were loose, after all. Next step, thinset and CBU.

 

[SatelliteGAL]

floor leveler for the uneven area and ditra underlayment under the tile

 

[navychop]

Yep. I'm flat and level, except for a small rise near the outside door. After removal of all layers above the subfloor, that rise is now only about 1/16th of an inch. I believe with careful mortar work, I can finesse that.

For other reasons, I went with HardiBacker CBU rather than Ditra. Now if only I can get well, I can get back to work on that floor.

 

[riffjim4069]

I personally love hardwood floors but against my wishes we had ceramic tiles installed at our Texas home while it was being build. Well, I have to admit that my wife was 100% right as I love the ceramic tiles that cover roughly 70% of our main level. They are beautiful, low maintenance, and keep the house cooler in the summer. Love 'em!

 

[SatelliteGAL]

The only problem I had with ceramic tiles in the kitchen is that it is a very hard surface so if you stand in the kitchen a lot and have a bad back/knees it hurts.

 

[navychop]

Ding Ding Ding! That hardness was a major concern esp w/MiL. We have a soft pad to stand on at the sink, might get more.

Did not want to risk hw floors in the kitchen. Most of the house is hw floors, save for the lowest level rec room (tile). So what tile did she pick? Ceramic tile that looks like wood......

I've got to get better and get back to work.

 

[riffjim4069]

Ding Ding Ding! That hardness was a major concern esp w/MiL. We have a soft pad to stand on at the sink, might get more.

Good points. Wife picked up soft kitchen pads from Costco.

 

[Bobby]

We have a ceramic tile floor in the kitchen. We have mats in front of the sink and stove. I need to get some mats in the counter work areas as well. Those hard floors do get to be a back pain issue after a while.

 

[navychop]

Not good to hear. I have back problems.

Gotta go to Bethesda ER now, just not getting better. Gotta get something done so I can sleep and get back to work. And I'm a week behind on this floor.

 

[SatelliteGAL]

Not good to hear. I have back problems.

Gotta go to Bethesda ER now, just not getting better. Gotta get something done so I can sleep and get back to work. And I'm a week behind on this floor.

Sorry to hear that. I know how it feels when a project gets stalled but sometimes you just can't help it. Gotta take care of yourself first or you will only pay for it in the long run.

 

[SatelliteGAL]

That's the biggest reason I'm not putting tile in my kitchen. Everyone in the house has back and knee problems.

 

[navychop]

It'll be a while before I get back on this project. Strep (rare in adults?) and an infection. There is a very important wedding I am supposed to attend this weekend, in Sandusky OH. Hope I'm up to the drive. After we return, we'll probably restart the following weekend.

 

[lakebum431]

Some things are just better left to the professionals.

 

[navychop]

And some, not. It is my experience with the "pros" and tales I've read, that lead me to doing most everything I can, myself. I'm not going to cut corners, I'm going to pay the extra ten bucks for the better thinset, I'm going to take it slow, and know where to go ask questions. I'll end up with a job that will outlast me, and I'll still have saved thousands of dollars.

It's hard to get dependable, quality help these days.

 

[dfergie]

I'm waiting for the 4th a local building supply place Sutherlands has a sale... thinking tile for 1 or maybe both bathrooms & maybe lumber for a deck. (15% off sale)

 

[Van]

Gotta redo all the floors in the house including the sunken living room which I'm considering filling with cement to bring it up 6 inches ( seriously who puts a sunken floor in a category 1 flood zone? ). It wont affect any doors and the drywall has to be redone anyways and the fireplace hearth as well along with electrical so might as well do it all.

 

[SatelliteGAL]

And some, not. It is my experience with the "pros" and tales I've read, that lead me to doing most everything I can, myself. I'm not going to cut corners, I'm going to pay the extra ten bucks for the better thinset, I'm going to take it slow, and know where to go ask questions. I'll end up with a job that will outlast me, and I'll still have saved thousands of dollars.

It's hard to get dependable, quality help these days.

Very true! The "professional" is the reason we ended up gutting the bathroom and have been without a tub/shower for about 3 weeks as I explained in the "whats making you sad" thread. It cost us over $1000 for the plumber so we may just as well have burned up the money. It has been one heck of an uphill battle but we decided that since we have to re-do it we are going to do it right and the way we want it to be. No just slapping it back together because we are (very) inconvenienced. And a sad reminder made us all change the pace a little. But today we got to sneak in a shower and test the whirlpool for leaks..... yeah, one of the benefits of doing it

 

[lakebum431]

You guys need to find some better professionals. I guess I am lucky in that I have several friends that are GCs and know who is good and who isn't.