Advice Please (pictures Inc.) - Preparing A Concrete Floor That Has Bitumen

[vsp89]

Hi all,

was wondering if I could get some advice from the pros here on preparing a concrete floor that has bitumen down (left over from removal of parquet flooring).

The pictures below will show what I'm up against.

The bitumen is around is 2-3mm thick in some areas but less elsewhere. I have tried to remove as much as I can but its an extremely slow process as it doesn't come up easily!

I've been reading up on this forum and it seems like the solution may be one of the following:

Option 1:

Lay down slc designed to work over bitumen (Arditex NA) - problem is I cant find anywhere locally that sells this stuff (only available online it seems)

Option 2:

Brush a sbr slurry over the bitumen, allow to dry before applying slc over the area. Allow to dry then tile.

Questions:

It looks like I will have to go with option 2 as I cant get hold of Arditex NA.

1) In regards to the slurry, can anyone confirm the correct mixture and volumes to use and what brand/products to use to create the slurry?

2) In regards to the slc, can anyone suggest a good brand/product (mapei Ultraplan slc -screwfix ??)

Pictures

 

[macten]

Tile Over Bitumen

 

[White Room]

Have you tried a heat gun to soften it up which would make life easier to scrape.

 

[peteablard]

Ring Ardex and ask them for a local supplier to you. I've picked it up while working in London before, Carpet and flooring in Bow is one place that springs to mind as a stockist

 

[Simons70]

Is my dog there?

 

[Old Mod]

World's ends tiles silverthorn rd sw8 can get it in couple days.
Have u tried grinding cup fitted to angle grinder. It is best to remove bitumen if u can.

 

[vsp89]

Tile Over Bitumen

Thanks Macten for the link. I will look for either of the two suggested 'pre mixed slurry' mentioned in that post. I've read several ways of mixing your own however, e.g 1 part sbr to 2 parts portland cement. anyone have any personal recommendations?

Have you tried a heat gun to soften it up which would make life easier to scrape.

Thanks for the reply, I have not tried a heat gun as I dont have one however I did try a small amount of boiling water which seems loosens it up a bit (but still very diffuclt to remove) I have wallpaper steamer which I will try tomorrow 🙂

Ring Ardex and ask them for a local supplier to you. I've picked it up while working in London before, Carpet and flooring in Bow is one place that springs to mind as a stockist

Hi peteablard, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Ill give them both a call tomorrow.

Is my dog there?View attachment 82777

lol, here is our GSD.

 

[vsp89]

World's ends tiles silverthorn rd sw8 can get it in couple days.
Have u tried grinding cup fitted to angle grinder. It is best to remove bitumen if u can.

Cheers mate, will look them up. I'm going to try remove as much as I can but at this rate I will be here forever! Got the hallway (as seen in pictures) and the kitchen diner to do 🙁

 

[Spud]

Hi all,

was wondering if I could get some advice from the pros here on preparing a concrete floor that has bitumen down (left over from removal of parquet flooring).

The pictures below will show what I'm up against.

The bitumen is around is 2-3mm thick in some areas but less elsewhere. I have tried to remove as much as I can but its an extremely slow process as it doesn't come up easily!

I've been reading up on this forum and it seems like the solution may be one of the following:

Option 1:

Lay down slc designed to work over bitumen (Arditex NA) - problem is I cant find anywhere locally that sells this stuff (only available online it seems)

Option 2:

Brush a sbr slurry over the bitumen, allow to dry before applying slc over the area. Allow to dry then tile.

Questions:

It looks like I will have to go with option 2 as I cant get hold of Arditex NA.

1) In regards to the slurry, can anyone confirm the correct mixture and volumes to use and what brand/products to use to create the slurry?

2) In regards to the slc, can anyone suggest a good brand/product (mapei Ultraplan slc -screwfix ??)

Pictures
View attachment 82773

View attachment 82774

View attachment 82775

View attachment 82776

Option 3
Hire a concrete plane and remove all bitumen and then you don't have to worry about the to ducts cross contaminating each other

 

[widler]

You will have no problem with priming and slc, tilemaster slc can be laid over ashphelt which is bitumen .
Like has been pointed out, it can be done many ways, I'd just go with the one that suits you, do you want the hassle and hard graft of grinding it off or the nice easy way of priming and slc , make life easy on ya self , it's hard enough as it is 🙁

 

[vsp89]

Option 3
Hire a concrete plane and remove all bitumen and then you don't have to worry about the to ducts cross contaminating each other

I'm going to try and remove as much as I can before priming and slc

You will have no problem with priming and slc, tilemaster slc can be laid over ashphelt which is bitumen .
Like has been pointed out, it can be done many ways, I'd just go with the one that suits you, do you want the hassle and hard graft of grinding it off or the nice easy way of priming and slc , make life easy on ya self , it's hard enough as it is 🙁

Thanks for the advice widler. Looks like Tilemaster LevelFlex is a popular choice on this forum!

I need to decide whether to use:

Arditex NA slc (no priming required but peteablard recommends priming anyway)

or

Tilemaster Prime + Grip followed by LevelFlex slc

 

[Flintstone]

Hi all,

was wondering if I could get some advice from the pros here on preparing a concrete floor that has bitumen down (left over from removal of parquet flooring).

The pictures below will show what I'm up against.

The bitumen is around is 2-3mm thick in some areas but less elsewhere. I have tried to remove as much as I can but its an extremely slow process as it doesn't come up easily!

I've been reading up on this forum and it seems like the solution may be one of the following:

Option 1:

Lay down slc designed to work over bitumen (Arditex NA) - problem is I cant find anywhere locally that sells this stuff (only available online it seems)

Option 2:

Brush a sbr slurry over the bitumen, allow to dry before applying slc over the area. Allow to dry then tile.

Questions:

It looks like I will have to go with option 2 as I cant get hold of Arditex NA.

1) In regards to the slurry, can anyone confirm the correct mixture and volumes to use and what brand/products to use to create the slurry?

2) In regards to the slc, can anyone suggest a good brand/product (mapei Ultraplan slc -screwfix ??)

Pictures
View attachment 82773

View attachment 82774

View attachment 82775

View attachment 82776

You can get more up than you have there I'm sure. Go over it with a blade scraper. Clean all the dust up. Give it a slurry coat. The easiest option is a ready mixed such as tilemaster prime plus grip or Mapei do one I think. I can't recall the exact mixture for making your own but I think it's 50:50 water and sbr then some rapid tile adhesive til it's like a watery paste texture, apply by roller. You can then tile straight on that. Or slc it, looks like you have a bit of a patch that needs filling, get a decent slc with fibre reinforced. Tilemaster products are all good, not sure about screw fix stuff.

 

[Tile Shop]

Slurry coat is usually no water. SBR mixed 1:1 with adhesive powder (by weight). But agree with Local, the easiest would be a ready mixed. The Mapei version is Eco Prim Grip.

But if you're using a flexible or latex levelling compound, slurry shouldn't be required unless you're trying to go all-out belts'n'braces.

 

[Flintstone]

I would deffinately still put a slurry on, for what it takes and costs, not worth not doing it!