I'm starting to install ceramic in our two baths situated in our 'patio home' which is built on a concrete slab. Easy, huh? Well, I removed the sheet vinyl that came with the house, and found that it was glued down. The Flexbond morter that I bought cant be used over concrete that has been sealed or has the remains of adhesive on it, and scraping wont totally remove it. Does anyone have any thoughts or tips on this problem?
Thanks
J

Hey, J, you may wish to post this question in Repairing and Remodeling forum.  I feel you'll get a better response there.  Glad to have you hear.

 

Hi PG

I've just used thinset over virtually every surface imaginable and have never had a tile pop loose or crack yet.

In fact, I would be LEERY of something with the word FLEX in it, Ceramic Tiles DOES NOT Flex, it will Crack first!

TTUL
Gary

J - I'd recommend using a dry mortar that you add water to. This stuff goes for about $12-$15 at Home Depot/Lowe's per 50 or 60 pound bag. I rarely use ready mix. Figure a 30 to 40 square foot bath will use just over 1/2 a bag of mortar. The mortar is essentially Portland Cement and is extremely strong when set atop a slab.

Since you are on a slab, any product that removes the adhesive 'gum' will suffice...but don't get wrapped upon removing all of it. You need to be more concerned about how level the floor is.

Laying tile is the brunt of my work. If you need help - shoot me a PM and we can exchange email addresses/telephone numbers.

Just clean up the old adhesive as best as you can then us Thinset  as recommended by Craig and Gary.

Not to be funny here, but we used to lay 30# Kraft Paper over concrete and/or wood, some chickenwire over that and 1 inch of mortar, then we would use the thinset and tile.

That insured NO BOND between the new work and the old original flooring. Good/Bad who knows? It's just the way it was done when I was younger.

TTUL
Gary