home owner has “slate” tile and wants me to tile over it so the height of the new tile matches the height of the carpet it runs into. Suffice to say home owner wants to cover up the ugly rather than remove and do over. current tile sits on concrete slab.
Can I tile over with no problems? do I need to float thinset over to fill gaps and dips to level the floor before tiling? do I need to scarify the tile surface to get the thinset to adhere?
-worth exactly 2 cents!
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Replies
Existing slate was probably sealed, which may bring up bonding problems with the thinset. Mapai makes a product specically designed to stick to pretty much anything, I think its called Keralastic. Its expensive, so in the past, I've skimmed with the Keralastic, and then used regular thinset to set the tiles. I personally hate layed construction, but your situation sounds O.K. , given the floor heights.
I'd also be concerned about the quality of the slate.
If this is the low-priced stuff that goes for a couple dollars per foot, it may not have that tight of a grain and it may cleave over time.
I will enform the homeowner, he has 12" tile to go over the slate, dont know if that helps or hurts, seems like it would be better than smaller ones. I am going to skim the grout lines and any dips before laying the tiles.-worth exactly 2 cents!