Replacing Vinyl with Tile over concrete
I am replacing the vinyl floor in a utility room with concrete, and I have a couple of questions.
1) When I pull up the vinyl, it’s leaving behind the paper backing. I’ve been scraping it and most of the adhesive off after heating it with a heat gun, but that takes about 15 minutes to do a square foot, so I’m not looking forward to doing the whole floor that way. Is there any easier way to get it off.
2) I’d normally use thinset over concrete, but this floor has a sealer on it and will have some adhesive residue. Would it make more sense to use a mastic? If I went with thinset (latex modified), would it stick to the adhesive residue, or would I need to grind off the adhesive and the sealer.
Replies
Water usually destroys the paper backing. Maybe get it very wet with a big sponge.
I would not use mastic. Get one of the better thinsets. Mapei has one they call superstick or ultrastick or something, and it does seem very sticky. Maybe it's ultracontact. I think the label says something about guaranteed 100% contact.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.