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revamping old tiled kitchen floors

ive bought a house with god awful tiled kitchen floor and i need some advice for a cost effective revamp. tiles are those horrid brownish-with-a-dash-of-copper 1980s job. the ones with an uneven surface. theyve been glued down within an inch of their lives and refuse to be removed so any floor must go on top of tiles so i was considering perhaps epoxy. it will cover the tired tiles and give new life. has anyone else used epoxy and was it reletively easy or a traumatic experience not to be repeated? was it cost effective or required a 2nd mortgage??

or perhaps just paint it some wonderful colour?

signed Havent A Clue

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Jason

@argylepink

Welcome to the Workshop community. It's great to have you join us. I'm confident you will find plenty of great information, advice and inspiration here for your home. I'm also sure there will be community members who can assist with your kitchen floor revamp, including our resident flooring expert @PJA.

You might also find these previous discussions useful:

New flooring on top of old tiles

Would you install a lino floor?

Easter project - epoxy garage floor

Using an epoxy kit in the garage

Thanks again for joining us. I'm looking forward to reading more about your projects and plans.

Jason

Kermit

Are you sure you won't be able to get them up @argylepink? You might find that once you get the first couple the rest come pretty easily. This might provide some help:

PJA

g'day Argylepink,

not sure i understand what is meant by "epoxy".

If you cover the floor with some resin would just make it still ugly but with a hard coat of something on it. ?

You can put any number of things on top of these tiles without too much trouble.

A laminate floating floor, they come in waterproof types but in truth you really don't get that much water on a kitchen floor. Just don't mop it.

You can tile over it.

You can lay kitchen carpet over it.

With tiling over or laminate floating floor you will need to flatten (level) the surface. An angle grinder to take out any lumps or ridges and an ardit (floor leveller) to fill the hollows.

It's easy I have done it and I'm no tradie.

if you are tiling over, Bunnings sell a Davco adhesive, I haven't been there for a while so I just can't remember the name, but they will help you; it is the only one that will do tiles on tiles. You can use any number of adhesives, but they will require that you rough up the tiles.

Now the tiling itself is also very easy.

You slap on the adhesive and run a grooved trowel over it. The grooves help you gain a better surface area of adhesion. The idea being that you squash out the grooves with the tile.

Tile cutting is a peice of cake with a cheap tile cutter. Like glass you just scratch the surface and then snap the tile.

If you go to Bunnings the flooring 'expert' or DIY guy can take you through all of this.

A couple of days at the most and you will be walking on a new beautiful tiled floor.

Jason

Many thanks for sharing your expertise as always @PJA. Much appreciated.

Hope all is well. Have you been working on any of your own projects recently?

Jason

Branchy249

I have been through a similar process with those old 1980 tiles. I used a jack hammer to remove the tiles as well as a brick bolster to help remove any smaller bits and stuck on grout. A large screwdriver is also surprisingly good for removing the tiles. It is hard work that is time consuming and physically demanding but the end result is well and truly worth it.

Just be wary that if you do tile over your existing tiles or add a floating floor then this will raise your floor height and you may have a discrepancy in height compared to connecting rooms or other fixtures (kitchen cabinetry etc).

Good luck with it!

Jason

Hi @argylepink,

Just wondering if you've made any progress with your kitchen floor revamp? Hope the replies you received from Workshop community members were helpful.

Jason

BobLoblaw

Hi @argylepink

i know it’s a long time since you first posted this but wondering if your tiles are similar to mine (see pic) and what you ended up doing.
cheers!

ProjectPete

You could use a self levelling compound and then lay hybrid/SPC (waterproof) flooring over that @BobLoblaw

When tiles have big (deep/wide) grout lines, it's easy enough to fill them with grout then lay new hybrid/SPC/laminate floorboards over the top of them. And if you have a few tiles that stick op more than others, just grind them back.

However, yours looks like a combo of both, hence my suggestions to use a self leveller first - this will cover/remedy the whole floor.

BobLoblaw

Thanks for your helpful reply @ProjectPete.

I replied on my main post.

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