Hello Everyone,
I am new to this forum and I'm looking for your experts' advice in a situation that I'm stuck in. This is a 1980's house and we already have an in-screed electric underfloor heating (nearly 40 years old) on a concrete base. We removed the existing laminate floor to lay tiles in our hallway. Under the laminate floor are the old thin vinyl (I think marley) tiles. My tiler removed it and found the black paint (probably bitumen but we are not sure) stuck with old vinyl tiles. Photos attached for reference.
He then applied Rapid flex adhesive and fixed our 60 x 60 tiles. We were not at home and when we came back he said a lot of heat was generated when he laid the tiles. We can still feel the tiles to be warm even after 5 hours of them being laid! He has half-finished the job and yet to do the remaining half of the hall floor.
Can someone advise us on the following, please?
1. Is it hazardous to have applied the tile adhesive directly on the Black paint? We have small kids at home, so we are worried about them being exposed to asbestos from the Bitumen paint.
2. Should we remove the newly laid tiles so far completely and apply Ardex na, primer,etc., and then tile on top of it? If we remove the new tiles that were just laid today, I'm worried if the bitumen layer will peel off as well and so we will again be exposed to asbestos. I'm not sure if Bitumen paint / adhesive from the 80s contains asbestos though.
3. Or, should we just continue to lay the flex adhesive on top of the old marley tiles for the remaining part of the floor and continue with it? This way the Bitumen paint is not exposed and is under the marley tiles. Or, should we apply ardex na on top of the marley tiles?
4. We don't mind going back to laminate flooring if it is complicated to lay tiles in this situation. However, we are confused with the heat generated on the newly laid tiles and are not sure removing them is safe now.
Thanks in advance for your time and advice.
Thanks,
Karti
I am new to this forum and I'm looking for your experts' advice in a situation that I'm stuck in. This is a 1980's house and we already have an in-screed electric underfloor heating (nearly 40 years old) on a concrete base. We removed the existing laminate floor to lay tiles in our hallway. Under the laminate floor are the old thin vinyl (I think marley) tiles. My tiler removed it and found the black paint (probably bitumen but we are not sure) stuck with old vinyl tiles. Photos attached for reference.
He then applied Rapid flex adhesive and fixed our 60 x 60 tiles. We were not at home and when we came back he said a lot of heat was generated when he laid the tiles. We can still feel the tiles to be warm even after 5 hours of them being laid! He has half-finished the job and yet to do the remaining half of the hall floor.
Can someone advise us on the following, please?
1. Is it hazardous to have applied the tile adhesive directly on the Black paint? We have small kids at home, so we are worried about them being exposed to asbestos from the Bitumen paint.
2. Should we remove the newly laid tiles so far completely and apply Ardex na, primer,etc., and then tile on top of it? If we remove the new tiles that were just laid today, I'm worried if the bitumen layer will peel off as well and so we will again be exposed to asbestos. I'm not sure if Bitumen paint / adhesive from the 80s contains asbestos though.
3. Or, should we just continue to lay the flex adhesive on top of the old marley tiles for the remaining part of the floor and continue with it? This way the Bitumen paint is not exposed and is under the marley tiles. Or, should we apply ardex na on top of the marley tiles?
4. We don't mind going back to laminate flooring if it is complicated to lay tiles in this situation. However, we are confused with the heat generated on the newly laid tiles and are not sure removing them is safe now.
Thanks in advance for your time and advice.
Thanks,
Karti
the hydration if cement is strongly exothermic. I would guess the adhesive is made with pretty much brand new cement and hasnt been sat in the bag for long. This would lead ut yo being hotter than usual as it sets. There is no reaction between bitumen and cement that I know of.
