Marley Tiles - What do I do? - Tile Advice

[Gentleman Jim]

Evening folks. Things seem to be taking off again after the Christmas lull, hope it's the same for you guys.
Looked at a job today where customer wants new flooring. Present floor is covered in 1970's style "Marley type" tiles (dark brown, about 9inches square, probably about 2mm thick and flexible before fixed - you know what I mean!) which have been stuck down to a fairly flat and level concrete floor. One has partially come up in the kitchen and there are signs of a black rubbery stuff which I guess is the glue.
My question is what to do now? I guess there is no way I should lay ceramic or porcelain tiles on top of existing flooring so does it all have to come up? If so what's the best way? Would scoring with a grinder suffice? (I doubt it)
Any help, as always, gratefully recieved.
Many thanks
Jim

 

[Gentleman Jim]

No answers! Does this mean no idea or no interest?
In case it's the first case, I contacted those nice people at BAL and was informed that as long as the old tiles were firmly attached (which they definitly are) I could seal the surface with BAL Bond and then use SPF to fix straight on top.
If no interest then I guess you won't be reading this either!
Regards
Jim

 

[Ric]

Jim think under the vinyl is bitumen, i ve had this got the tiles up cleaned the bitumen up with suger soap to degrease it then primed with bal bond.

 

[DHTiling]

hi jim....there are alot of joints there as well ..so you could use Ditra to isolate the new tiled surface from any chance of de-bonding with stress from old tiles....or as bal sez just prime and tile over....
and also a slurry coat would give good adhesion as well..........

 

[tiler tom]

G Jim it seems to me you have answered your own question in the post.

One has partially come up in the kitchen and there are signs of a black rubbery stuff which I guess is the glue.
My question is what to do now? I guess there is no way I should lay ceramic or porcelain tiles on top of existing flooring so does it all have to come up?


If some of the tiles are loose then the chances are that the others are not far behind. A good old fashioned scraper to ease the loose tiles up could be the answer.

 

[Gazzer]

The black stuf is the adhesive they used back then, i dont think they use the same stuff now.
As for the tiles, yes as others have said you can tile over the Marleys, but i would put a bet on that if you got a scraper and slid it under the tiles that they wouold come up easily. I have done this countless times over the 31 years of trading and that would be my advice.

 

[Lady janie]

Beware, we have these tiles and when having an asbestos survey done it said they contained asbestos, either the tile itself or the bitumen base, so if removing them be careful and wear an appropriate mask and then dispose of as asbestos in the correct way! We are going to fill the chipped areas with some self levelling/filler then lay new floor over the top to encapsulate the asbestos. Sounds like BAL bond is the right stuff, still researching.