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Posted by on October 19, 2007, 1:13 pm
My wife and I are considering installing a new floor in our laundry
room. Currently it is a vinyl asbestos tile floor - we would like to
avoid removal if at all possible. My preference would be to install
hardibacker over a layer of mud and lay a ceramic tile floor, but my
mother-in-law has convinced my wife that the tile will crack fairly
easily (ie: dropping a can of soup). Will this be a concern? Are there
some tiles more resilient that would better resist chipping/cracking
than others? Currently we're also using the room as tool storage -
would there be a better option? The in-laws are advocating a sheet
vinyl floor, but I can't stand the thought of spending MORE money for
what I see as a lower quality product. I can install ceramic tile
myself, but sheet vinyl would require hiring a pro.
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Posted by Joe on October 19, 2007, 1:39 pm
On Oct 19, 12:13 pm, Andrew.B.Jo...@gmail.com wrote:
> My wife and I are considering installing a new floor in our laundry
> room. Currently it is a vinyl asbestos tile floor
>snip<
Why do you think it is asbestos-vinyl? Asbestos has been off the
market for years. In any event, such tile is easily removed and
disposed of using plain common sense. Keep it damp (no dust), wear a
ordinary respirator for your peace of mind, use mild heat to speed
removal, double bag it and put it in the trash legally. This bit of
advice I have from a friend who works for a HazMat removal company, so
that should attest to the facts in the case.
Replace the old tile with new vinyl tile and avoid a lot of the
struggle with old adhesive removal. You'll have a better, cheaper,
flooring than ceramic tile and that should make everyone happy. Good
luck.
Joe
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Posted by on October 19, 2007, 2:35 pm
> On Oct 19, 12:13 pm, Andrew.B.Jo...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > My wife and I are considering installing a new floor in our laundry
> > room. Currently it is a vinyl asbestos tile floor
>
> >snip<
>
> Why do you think it is asbestos-vinyl? Asbestos has been off the
> market for years. In any event, such tile is easily removed and
> disposed of using plain common sense. Keep it damp (no dust), wear a
> ordinary respirator for your peace of mind, use mild heat to speed
> removal, double bag it and put it in the trash legally. This bit of
> advice I have from a friend who works for a HazMat removal company, so
> that should attest to the facts in the case.
> Replace the old tile with new vinyl tile and avoid a lot of the
> struggle with old adhesive removal. You'll have a better, cheaper,
> flooring than ceramic tile and that should make everyone happy. Good
> luck.
>
> Joe
The house was built in 1947- or so. I can't get an absolute year from
the city. Originally we just suspected that it was asbestos-vinyl, but
last week I found a few boxes of the original tile left over from
construction. Right on the box it says asbestos-vinyl, so I'm pretty
confident =) I tried removing some of the tiles using a 9" putty knife
and hammer, which seems to be the norm. Most tiles would come up
halfway, then break in two like glass. The tiles are very brittle
after 60 years - after failing to keep the pieces from breaking, I
decided it would be best to try to cover up the floor. The easier
removal option would probably be to cut up the subfloor around the
perimeter and replace it with plywood and/or hardie backer. The room
is approximately 12'x7'6" - 90 sq ft. Raising the floor by 1/4" isn't
really a concern - we have a bamboo floor installed in the hallway,
and the previous owner (poorly) installed some linoleum tiles in the
adjoining kitchen after adding 1/4" plywood. In fact, raising the
floor would be preferable, as it would bring it up to the same height
as all adjoining rooms.
In pricing the tile, I came out to about $3.50 per square foot for
ceramic tile installed (me doing the work myself - including grout,
thinset, hardiebacker, and allowing up to $1.50/sq ft for tiles). I
haven't priced the materials only for vinyl sheet or vinyl tiles, but
I would REALLY like to avoid vinyl tiles. Every installation I've seen
looks cheap - that may be more of a reflection on the installation or
materials used, but there's no accounting for taste. Vinyl sheets
installed were being priced at around $6 per square foot when paying
somebody to do the work.
Out of curiosity, why do you say a vinyl floor would be better than
ceramic? I haven't been able to find many real comparisons of them.
Would it be better for this application - where muddy feet are a
common reality, or would the dirt get ground into the tiles? As I
mentioned before, my experience with vinyl floors are from
installations done 10-15 years ago, so many things may have changed.
I'm researching now so I'm happy with how things turn out later.
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Posted by Andrew Duane on October 19, 2007, 1:52 pm
On Oct 19, 1:13 pm, Andrew.B.Jo...@gmail.com wrote:
> My wife and I are considering installing a new floor in our laundry
> room. Currently it is a vinyl asbestos tile floor - we would like to
> avoid removal if at all possible. My preference would be to install
> hardibacker over a layer of mud and lay a ceramic tile floor, but my
> mother-in-law has convinced my wife that the tile will crack fairly
> easily (ie: dropping a can of soup). Will this be a concern? Are there
> some tiles more resilient that would better resist chipping/cracking
> than others? Currently we're also using the room as tool storage -
> would there be a better option? The in-laws are advocating a sheet
> vinyl floor, but I can't stand the thought of spending MORE money for
> what I see as a lower quality product. I can install ceramic tile
> myself, but sheet vinyl would require hiring a pro.
Or just go with more sheet vinyl. It is quite an easy DIY job, I've
done several floors.
It's much easier than ceramic tile to put down.
My concern with putting down hardibacker and tile is that you'll be
raising the floor
level an inch or so, maybe more. This will create threshold problems.
Breakage
isn't a problem. There is commercial grade floor tile that can handle
a bulldozer
driving over it with the proper subfloor. Ask at any tile shop, they
can tell you
what is the best grade.
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Posted by DerbyDad03 on October 19, 2007, 2:02 pm
On 19 Oct, 13:13, Andrew.B.Jo...@gmail.com wrote:
> My wife and I are considering installing a new floor in our laundry
> room. Currently it is a vinyl asbestos tile floor - we would like to
> avoid removal if at all possible. My preference would be to install
> hardibacker over a layer of mud and lay a ceramic tile floor, but my
> mother-in-law has convinced my wife that the tile will crack fairly
> easily (ie: dropping a can of soup). Will this be a concern? Are there
> some tiles more resilient that would better resist chipping/cracking
> than others? Currently we're also using the room as tool storage -
> would there be a better option? The in-laws are advocating a sheet
> vinyl floor, but I can't stand the thought of spending MORE money for
> what I see as a lower quality product. I can install ceramic tile
> myself, but sheet vinyl would require hiring a pro.
If it is really a mud room, then I would be concerned about the
slippery-factor associated with ceramic tile unless you pick a style
with a rough surface. Wet mud and snow could make the floor pretty
slippery. I'd also be concerned about the grout getting very dirty,
even if well sealed, in a mud room.
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