I am planning on laying floor tiles in our kitchen. We took up a load of vinyl tiles which were stuck down with what look slike bitumen. The chap who fitted our kitchen said it was a great surface to tile onto, but the chap in the tile shop said it really isnt! Anybody got any experience with this? Do i need to spend several weeks scraping the bitumen off the floor?

I cant remember for the life of me what that stuffs called, something proof i think. Its basically a bitumen adhesive, comes in tins and you just brush it on.

Stuck the tiles down in our kitchen with it. Does just the job. Horribly messy and sticky though.

David

That is what we have on the floor and we want to put normal ceramic tiles/adhesive over the top... It is a question as to whether the new adhesive will stick!?

I remembered, its called Synthaprufe. Knew it would come to me eventually.

It *should* be compatable with most building materials and adhesives as its designed to be used as a liquid damp proof as well as an adhesive for vinyl tiles.

A builder will be along in a minute to put me right no doubt.

David

As long as the bitumen stuf isn't too (i.e. much higher in some areas than in others) you should be fine as your Ceramic floor tile adhesive is quite thick and should level well.

However technically speaking you should scrape all the cr*p off first.

It is lovely and flat (not like our walls!) I think we will try laying one and see how easily it rips back up. It's not like they move once down, they should stay very firmly in position... We shall see!

I just "de-tiled" the floor in our kitchen. It has the black ashphalt floor like yours, and the ceramic tiles were layed straight on it with normal tile adhesive.

They were stuck like fcuk !!!! Needed a good chiselling to get them up. !!!!!

Well that sounds enouraging! I really don't like the thought of having to get it all up!

I'm not sure on "proper" take on this but my parents tiled their kitchen floor onto the same stuff and they're still stuck 10yrs later.

Floor tile adhesive is a cement based product and will stick your floor tiles to Synthaprufe with no problems as long as you use a "full bed" of adhesive and don't be a tightwad by spot bonding the tiles. Which as a point of interest should never be done on either floor or walls..

there are loads of different adheisives available,bal do a good range although expensive its the best on the market,don't skimp on adheisive!!! it may be worth laytexing the floor to get it nice and smooth,this will make tileing an easier job if your not used to it.

is it wood or concrete floor? If concrete, rock on, if wood consider screwing some 8mm ply down first, makes it more level and solves the goo problem. Use flexible adhesive if tiling onto wood.

Remember floors are like women
Lay then properly once and you can walk all over them for years

I'll get me coat!

Guys, thanks for some very useful information. The kitchen is all a concrete floor. The bathroom will have to be done onto a decent piece of ext grade plywood. I think the concensus is that it is possible. I think the acid test will be stick one down and see how it goes (lets just hope I can remove it again). Many thanks - such a wide knowledge base!