Posted: 12/15/2007 11:51:44 AM EDT
| Anyone know what the best solution to use to etch an existing glazed tile floor so I can bond new tile on it? Someone suggested muratic acid....is that strong enough? The old tile was bonded to a concrete slab with a heavy dose of mastic back in the '70s and I'd rather not try to go down to the concret if if it's not essential, nor would the owner want to pay for the time/labor.....it is solidly bonded to the slab. I'll be using a thin set mortar for the new tile (is there a mortar that will bond to glazed tile without having to etch it first?). Any help is appreciated. Thanks. |
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Muratic acid is the commercial name for 50% hydrochloric acid. I seriously doubt it will touch ceramic floor tile. And it is certainly something you don't want to use inside your house, unless you have been trained to use it. The fumes are corrosive, and nasty too. Edited to remove garbage. |
| There is a product I cant remember the name of. You can use it for this purpose. You spread it thin and wait for it to cure to a certian point. Then apply the tile. If you do it too soon it will never dry. Its really light in weight. 5 gallons weighs almost nothing.It used for normal installs. If you break the glaze wear a mask made for the job. |
| just lay down an anti fracture membrane/sound proofing. clean up the floor real good, then roll on the primer with a paint roller, allow a day to cure. then install 1/8" sound barrier. it's peel and stick, and this will give you a smooth surface to work with and will bond nicely. most sound proofing will go from 50 cents to $1.25 per sq.ft. this is really easy to install, and once down is almost impossible to take up. try soundguard, or it's evil twin mapelastic from mapei. |
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Take it up. Use an air chisel. Or have cracks in the new tile. I've laid tile for 20 years, take it up. You may be lucky and have the tile on a mud floor. Yes, you can tile over old floor tile. But in the end it is cheaper to take it up and start from a new base. My 2ยข Go slow, measure twice and lay it out first. ATB |
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taking up the tile with a chipping hammer is a huge job. very time consuming and hard manual labor. you have to scrape that shit up plus the cement thats behind it. if there are any out of levels on that floor, chances are they used a bed of mortar to level it. if that's the case, not only are you chipping up the tile, but possibly 2" of tile cement too. even with a pneumatic air chisel you'll take all day. remember, the bigger the chipping hammer and the heavier it is, and the more you will vibrate along with it. not a fun job, you will definately trash your house if you dont curtain off with plastic visqueen everything. then you have the lovely task of shoveling all that shit out and hauling it to a dumpster, where you will have to either pay by weight, or by truckload an average of 60-90$ per truckload at a dumping facility. you could take it to your local city dump but they limit you to 1 cu.yd. of construction debris. and dumping it illegally believe it or not is a FELONY. to give you an idea: 1000 sqft = approximately 4 truckloads the right way to do it: chip it up, but costly and time consuming. the git 'r' done way : tile right over the old tile, it'll grab just fine. the compromise : anti fracture membrance. i'd do the git r dun.  edit* do you have to use a tile? you can get a floating floor really cheap that will go right over the tile. just buy some pergo or a cheap knockoff laminate wood for 70 cents a sq.ft. and throw some foam underlayment underneath. the day you get tired of the pergo or it gets damaged 5 years later you can just rip it up and you have your old tile again, un touched. that would ultimately be the cheapest, cleanest and fastest route. |