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Posted by G Henslee on June 27, 2005, 10:10 am
Dica wrote:
>
>>Dica wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>No wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>No backer board and floor doesn't need to be level. It just needs to be
>>>>>flat.
>>>>>
>>>>>Now, if you have a painted concrete floor you will need to get off the
>>>>>paint. The most recent TOH magazene suggested backer board over a
>>>
>>>painted
>>>
>>>
>>>>>concrete floor. Personally I would prefer to sandblast or strip off
>>>
>>>paint
>>>
>>>
>>>>>than install backer.
>>>>>
>>>>>So no, do not need backer.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>i'm getting ready to install ceramic tile in my basement and just
>>>
>>>finished
>>>
>>>
>>>>>>the chapter in my home depot book about what's involved with this. it
>>>
>>>said
>>>
>>>
>>>>>>i
>>>>>>should be using backer board to keep the tiles from flexing. as i say,
>>>>>>this
>>>>>>is going in my basement, which has a concrete foundation. aside from
>>>>>>making
>>>>>>sure the floor is totally level, do i really need to use backer board?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>tks
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>How did the article suggest the backerboard be attached to the slab?
>>>>
>>>>There's no reason in the world to add backerboard over a concrete slab.
>>>> Anti-fracture membrane of sorts? Yes. But not backerboard. Did that
>>>>Bob Villa asswipe suggest that?
>>>>
>>>>Painted slab should be etched with muriatic and a modified thinset used
>>>>for setting the tile.
>>>
>>>
>>>i was talking to somebody at Rona over the weekend and she suggested
>
> that i
>
>>>could put a coat of regular latex primer down on top of the painted slab
>
> and
>
>>>this would be sufficient for priming the foundation for a layer of self
>>>leveling concrete. does this sound right?
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Check the requirements from the self-leveler mfg'er. Why do you feel
>>you need the leveler? Have you laid a straight edge of some sort across
>>the floor?
>
>
> the leveler i bought was EZ Flow. each bag is $30.00 CDN which is going to
> get really expensive as i've got a lot of area to cover (about 350 sq ft.).
> i asked why it was so expensive and she said it's because it's self
> leveling, as though there were some high technology to this. i'm trying to
> keep the costs down on this project so wanted to get some feedback from the
> group on alternative and cheaper ways to do this before dumping more money
> on the EZ Flow primer.
Allthouhg I've never used that one IIRC, anyway the EZ part of using
floor levelers isn't always 'easy'. Damn near perfect consistency is
necesssary for it to flow yet not too wet as to weaken it. Yep, not
cheap either. I use them seldom and often times use a traditional mortar
bed.
>
>
>
> the floor itself has some pretty nasty high spots on it where it looks like
> the foundation buckled in on itself, so i've got to bring the level of the
> entire room up to match this. i'm considering just using regular concrete
> and trowling as best i can to get a level floor, but suspect i'll still have
> some high/low spots. after getting the floor as level as i can, i'll add
> another layer with the self leveling stuff to get what i miss.
Regular concrete? Nope. Needs aggregate (rock) to be concrete. And
mortar (sand/cement) doesn't hold well when feathered thin as you would
need to do at the high spots. Perhaps you could look into pre-floating
a 1"+ mortar bed throughout, or having one done for you.
>
> i don't mind the extra work it takes to get the floor level by using non
> self leveling stuff, but i'm not sure i've got the skill level to trowel the
> room level. a straight edge is only going to measure about 1 metre across
> at a time, but what if the room is 6 metres across? how do i level the room
> without a 6 foot meter or does it not matter?
>
Straight piece of wood? Remember 'level' is good but not always
possible so 'even and flat' are the important issues. You may want to
just grind down the high spots.
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