My 1st Job Removing old adhesive

[Shooter999]

Hi everyone,

After a bit of advice (isn't everyone).

We need to completely overhaul our upstairs ensuite bathroom.

I've managed to remove all of the tiles and the old shower and enclosure.

What's left is the adhesive on the flooring. It just doesn't want to come up (as can be seen from the pics).

What are my options to get this in a fit state to begin tiling?

A friend who is a builder mentioned putting down 6mm hardiebacker? If I were to do this, do I have to put some form of adhesive down to level the existing floor and to attach the hardiebacker to?

Is the above the best option, or are there others?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

 

[Qwerty]

Use a 4" blade scraper and it will come up

 

[Shooter999]

Thanks for the reply.

So far I've tried an sds chisel bit, hammer and bolster, wood chisel and finally a screwdriver.

Whilst I was having some success with the chisel and screwdriver, it still wasn't taking it all up, so I would have been left with an uneven floor?

 

[Old Mod]

Close bathroom door, open windows, wet the floor, get an angle grinder and a grinding cup, and you'll have it done in 30mins. Messy but effective.

If you think that's bad, look what I walked in to this morning after builder messed floor up.


Now that's what you call a tough job to get adhesive up! Haha

 

[Old Mod]

It happens to be 25m2 too!

 

[Qwerty]

It shouldn't. Not if you scrape rather than hack at it

 

[WetSaw]

I'm surprised that failed with such good coverage


 

[Old Mod]

I'm surprised that failed with such good coverage
View attachment 89752 

Not bad Paul hey mate!

 

[Shooter999]

Never used an angle grinder before, but I can borrow one off a mate.

Can you recommend a grinder cup for the job?

When you say wet the floor, how wet should it be?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Old Mod]

Something like this:

Grinding cup

I can not stress enough how messy this is, tape up gap around door, wear MASK, EYE PROTECTION & GLOVES!
Go tentively at first to see how much pressure to use, you WILL tear up the ply if you're too heavy handed!

If you've never used a grinder I'd suggest you give Geoff's idea above a go first, soak the adhesive with water and use a bladed scraper, not a paint scraper.

Bladed scraper

 

[Shooter999]

Something like this:

Grinding cup

I can not stress enough how messy this is, tape up gap around door, wear MASK, EYE PROTECTION & GLOVES!
Go tentively at first to see how much pressure to use, you WILL tear up the ply if you're too heavy handed!

If you've never used a grinder I'd suggest you give Geoff's idea above a go first, soak the adhesive with water and use a bladed scraper, not a paint scraper.

Bladed scraper

Thanks for the prompt reply. I'll give the scraper a go first.

Cheers.

 

[Flintstone]

I would waste your time and effort scraping that off, it's chipboard so needs over boarding anyway. Check to make sure it's secure and not bouncing as those chip board floors often do. If it's ok, over board with hardi, use a suitable tile adhesive to stick it down, mix it thin ish, probably a 10mm trowel will easily sort out that then ofcourse screw it.

@3_fall any reason you can't just apply a thin layer of leveller ?

 

[Flintstone]

 

[Shooter999]

Thanks for the reply. I've tried the scraper, and it's not making much of a dent.

Was about to go and purchase the grinding cup.

When you mention a thin layer of leveller, can you expand? Do you mean apply a thin layer to the adhesive that is already there, and then tile on top of this? If so can you recommend a leveller?

The boards are fine, with no bounce in them.

 

[Flintstone]

I was referring to 3_fall when i mentioned leveller, if you look at my photos, that is what I would do with your floor, stick the hardie straight over it with tile adhesive and a decent sized notch trowel

 

[Shooter999]

Again, thanks for the reply.

Is there any benefit to boarding it compared to grinding away the current adhesive (apart from less mess, although boarding will be more expensive).

If I board it, it will reduce the clearance available between the bedroom and the bathroom.

Thanks for all replies.

 

[Flintstone]

You need to board it regardless, you should not tile onto chip board.

 

[Shooter999]

Thanks for the information. I'm slightly confused!!

If I grind all of the adhesive away, won't it be back to its original state, as it was when it was 1st tiled, where they would have tiled onto the boards? Or is this now considered bad practice?

Are you recommending that there is no point in removing the existing adhesive and I should just hardiebacker the whole floor (on top of new adhesive).

For information, the house was built in 2005.

 

[Flintstone]

Some people do tile on to chip board but it's not advisable, nobody on here will advise it I don't think.
That's what I would do, overboard with hardie over the floor as it is, no grinding. Just take any lumps or high bits off.
What tiles are you using

 

[Shooter999]

Again thanks for the reply.

Apologies for all of the questions, I'm not questioning your advice (as you're a professional and im a complete novice!), I really appreciate the fact that you're taking the time and patience to reply to me, I'm just trying to gain an understanding.

I was under the assumption (possibly mistakenly) that it was either remove the existing adhesive and then tile onto the existing floor or hardiebacker the floor as it is.

However you're saying that if I followed the advice given above about the scraper and grinder cup, I would still need to hardiebacker the floor, but your method will mean less work for me.

We'll be using porcelain tiles (although the wife hasn't picked them yet).

Is there an adhesive and trowel you can recommend for laying the hardiebacker onto?

 

[Flintstone]

No problem!
Adhesive depends on what you can get locally, something reputable such as Mapei, tilemaster, or ultra, you want a rapid set flexible adhesive.
Probably a 10mm x 10mm square notch trowel,
Spread it as i have in the pic to an even bed, don't mix it stiff. I'm sure some one else will confirm

 

[Old Mod]

Yeah as long as you don't have height issues, then the easier way is to just overboard as Andy says.

 

[Shooter999]

Thanks guys. When you say height issues, is that in relation to the clearance between the bathroom and the bedroom (which is carpeted)? How can I check this?

Our current tiles are 10mm thick and approx 5mm adhesive, so 15mm in total. If don't grind the existing adhesive, I could end up with a depth of approx 30mm (existing adhesive 5mm, new adhesive 3mm, 6mm hardiebacker, 5mm adhesive, and 10mm tile.

Does the above calculation make sense?

 

[Shooter999]

Regarding the adhesive, will this do:

Mapei Mapeker Rapid Set Tile Adhesive Grey 20kg | Wickes.co.uk - http://www.wickes.co.uk/Mapei-Mapeker-Rapid-Set-Tile-Adhesive-Grey-20kg/p/102976

Think I need 6 bags (approx 30m2)

Will I be able to use the above to:

1. Attach hardiebacker to existing floor.
2. Attach floor tiles to hardiebacker.
3. Attach wall tiles to existing platerboard and new hardiebacker in shower enclosure?

I'm a bit wary that some of the reviews say it sets very quickly. This will be my 1st tiling job and I would prefer something that gives me a bi more time to get the tiles on.

 

[Flintstone]

It is suitable yes but yes it will last about 40 mins once mixed. They should do a slow set version that will last several hour in the bucket.

 

[Kyle Knowles]

Hi everyone,

After a bit of advice (isn't everyone).

We need to completely overhaul our upstairs ensuite bathroom.

I've managed to remove all of the tiles and the old shower and enclosure.

What's left is the adhesive on the flooring. It just doesn't want to come up (as can be seen from the pics).

What are my options to get this in a fit state to begin tiling?

A friend who is a builder mentioned putting down 6mm hardiebacker? If I were to do this, do I have to put some form of adhesive down to level the existing floor and to attach the hardiebacker to?

Is the above the best option, or are there others?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

View attachment 89745 View attachment 89746

PersonallyI'd use a grinder with a cup grinder attachment linked up to a vacuum

 

[Tile Marble Granite]

This is how it's done brother

 

[Kyle Knowles]

This is how it's done brother

View attachment 89769 View attachment 89770 View attachment 89771 View attachment 89772 View attachment 89773 View attachment 89774 View attachment 89775 View attachment 89776

Exactly what I would do

 

[Shooter999]

I've ordered a grinding cup and some masking tape to tape up the door.

Will hopefully give it a go on the weekend. I'll report back to let you know how I got on!

 

[Old Mod]

Don't buy rapid set adhesive, you will invariably throw away more than you use, especially as a first timer.
It has no place in wall tiling anyway, there are exceptions of course, but not in your case.
You are aware that hardibacker is NOT waterproof aren't you?
It has to be tanked before tiling.
There are more efficient ways of building a shower cubicle.