How to re tile my kitchen floor?
Question:I want to put tiles down on my kitchen floor, but first I need to pull up the old pattern. It is a whole piece of laminate flooring that is starting to come undone where the dining room and kitchen meet. So how would I go about doing this? Do i just pull the laminate up? Is there a specific way to put the tiles down?
Answers:
I need more info to really help, but here's what i can give you so far: first, you should get all the laminate up, I don't know a lot of ways to do this that don't involve a claw hammer. If you want to keep the laminate intact, you must work out how and where it is attached, remove these fixings and then prise it off the floor, but it will be easier removing it in small pieces. After this, you need to take a look at your floor. to be tiled on the floor must be clean, dry, flat and as smooth as possible, small bumbs or dips are acceptable, but anything large must be resolved. on a concrete floor, you can sand or chisel off bumbs, and fill dips with a concrete screed, or something similar, ask at a diy place about that. On a wooden floor it is often easiest to simply fix plywood or hardboard, any tough flat wood, creating a brand new flat surface for tiling, but obviously this will raise the floor so remember to take that into account if you consider it. If you are happy the floor is in as good a condition as you can get, you should plan the placement of your tiles. you need to make sure you are not going to end up with an impossibly small cut at any side, anything below about 1/2 inch is very tough, ideally any cuts should be a couple of inches in width. so mark out a starting point, from where your tiles will hit the walls etc as either whole tiles or decent cuts (note, tiles may be placed under kitchen units, check that out before you start, as it may save you cutting them). draw a straight chalk line down the floor to line the tiles up against, as it will keep them straight, and lay them row by row along this line, making sure that each row stays straight. at this point i must suggest that you get a proffessional to actually lay the tiles, as i have done a lot of jobs where a customer has attempted to tile something themselves, and then called us in to fix the mess they've made! If you really do want to do it yourself, you need to make sure you have the right materials and tools. First you need your tile adhesive, and there are different types for different conditions, like flexible adhesive to stop tiles cracking on wooden floors, so ask for help at a diy store and make sure you have the right type. Then you need something to cut your tiles, you can choose a manual cutter, which pretty much just scores and cracks the tile, but can only do straight cuts from edge to edge, so if you need to cut round corners, pipes etc, you may need an electrical cutter, which consists of a spinning diamond wheel, these cut a direct line through the tile, still cut pretty straight but with a little imagination you can cut round most obstacles. so once all that's sorted, you can actually tile. lay them as i said above, along a pre-marked line, row by row, put about two tiles worth of adhesive down at once, spread it flat, and lay your tiles as straight as possible lined up on both sides, vertically and horizontally. make sure they are level and even, any difference in height can cause nasty trips later on! once all your tiles are laid, leave them to set for 1-2 hours before grouting them. again i would reccomend a proffesional, but if you do try it yourself, best of luck to you!
I put down my own kitchen and bath tile last year in my townhouse. I just pulled up the old laminate and then put the tile down. You'll want to put it down "un stuck" first to make sure you've got the pattern and right amount in the right places before you start adhering them to the ground.
Good luck!
i think if you don't even know how to take laminate up you should get a professional to tile your place. You might regret messing it up and might have to pay someone in the end anyway, you might as well save yourself the frustration and go to home depot they hav people that will do it for an affordable price.
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Go to HomeDepot or Lowe's(or anywhere similar) and ask the person in the flooring department. They'll give you professional answers in seconds. I think what you're trying to do is very easy but I'd be typing forever if I tried to give you a step-by-step answer.
measure the clearence between the door and the floor, if there isn't enough space to have the new floor over the old one then you have to pull the old one up...
hi
is it regular linoleum tile or ceramic?
for regular
remove the old flooring, check and see if there any bumps on the floor sweep clean used a damp mop and go over it then let dry then vacuum it
ceramic
same thing except you need thin set cement and grout
There is a lot that goes into putting down a tile floor and it isn't an easy process if you haven't done it before. What I would recommend that you do is go to Home Depot or Lowe's and get one of the "how to" books on how to lay tile. There is a whole series of these books on everything from wiring, to carpentry, to plumbing. They are easy to follow and go step by step on everything that you need to consider. Black and Decker makes a series as do others. It will set you back about $20 and be well worth it before you spend about a $1000 laying tile.
yes, peel up all the old laminate. clean your floor very well, sweep and vacuum. of course select the tile you want. use a modified thin-set adhesive with a 3/16" or 1/4" notched trowel to spread adhesive and lay the new tiles. some may need to be cut, you can rent a wet saw from a lowe's or home depot. write back if you need more specific info or talk to the people where you buy the tiles. cbseabolt@hotmail .com
The first thing is I need to know is this laminate glue or snap together (do you want to save this floor ?) if you donot care this is how to remove your laminate First off figure which way the laminate is started this will give you a good starting point. this should just fold up ward ____/ like that once you start you should be able to take up thold laminate in 1 hour. make sure to remove all your wall base first., that is what holds down the laminate. After that is up you will have to determine what type of underlayment is on the subfloor. The most common is durock if you are putting down ceramic . If it is vinyl tiles you then should use luan (1/4" thick use the same thickness for the durock). You have to measure you length and width of the floor striking chalk lines to determine where your starting point is ( you do this with either type of floor).If you need more instruction e mailme.
What works for me pulling up laminate is to start where it is loose and use a razor knife to cut it into smaller strips to pull up.You can use a razor scraper to get under it where it is well stuck.Try to scrape up as much as you can of it.Then assuming your going over concrete use a good acrylic based tile thinset.Hope this helps
First of all, pull all the sheet vinyl that will come up by hand. Once this is done, go out and buy a floor scrapper and blades. Pour water on your floor, this will soften up the paper and glue remains left behind from pulling the vinyl. Now scrape everything(paper/glue remains) that will come up as well as paint and wall texture(over spray). Once this is done, with clean water, clean up the entire area using water and sponge. Clean it very well, otherwise the thinset will not stick as it should. Once this is done, find your longest running wall and pop a chalk line running parallel to that wall. Using a "L" square, lay beside the chalked line and run a pencil mark along the other side making an "L" on the floor. Now chalk this line as well the distance of the room. This is now your square, this will help you keep straight grout joints. You may want to lay using spacers, this will help you gauge your grout joints as you lay. Cut the tiles as you lay using a cutting board or wet saw. Please take your time, it's not the cheapest project to do, don't blow your money, make it great. Use thinset which already has latex in it, you'll just have to add water, DON'T buy the pre-mixed thinset or don't lay with mastic on floors, it takes forever to dry. If you have any questions contact me at pisofuerte360@yahoo.com. Good luck.
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