3rd Floor Condo with concrete floor (Newbie)


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Old 09-16-06, 08:20 PM
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3rd Floor Condo with concrete floor (Newbie)

I'm on the 3rd floor (top) of a condo unit and I want to remodel both of my bathrooms. 1 being a half bath done first and the other is a full bath.

The half bath is 5x5 with wallpaper and small squares for tile floor. I'm pretty sure the flooring below is concrete or lightweight concrete as I just put down lamanite in the rest of the unit and it was lightweight concrete as well. I was wondering, how do I remove the floor and once removed, do I need to lay a backerboard or plywood or can I lay the new tile down? Also, should I remove the current drywall and put up new drywall. I plan on doing new floor, toliet, vanity, medicine cabinet, and either painting the walls or appling tile halfway up.

I haven't done all of my reading yet and plan on doing this around the beginning of the year so my question may be a bit basic. Basically, I'm looking for directions as to where to start. Right now, I only have one of those Home Depots 1-2-3 books as my starting point.
 
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Old 09-18-06, 12:17 PM
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If the lightweight concrete you are talking about is gypcrete this stuff is a nightmare. There is no way to tile over this stuff and most condos require it for its soundproofing qualities. This stuff cracks and crumbles real easy and is not a good substrait for tile. Hopefully, you dont have gypcrete. If you do, I would check with the condo association to see if this stuff can be removed and other soundproofing products used in its place.

You cannot install backerboard over lightweight concrete. If in fact you have a lightweight concrete that is an approved substrait for tile you should be able to tile right to it or apply an isolation sheet membrane and then tile.

I hope it aint gypcrete.
 
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Old 09-18-06, 02:53 PM
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3rd Floor Condo with concrete floor (Newbie)

Your condo association (or the maintenace man) should know what you have in the floors since it is throughout the building.

You might be able to tell if you have true lightweight concrete or just gypcrete. You will have to be able to chip out a bit and look at it.

Gypcrete will be soft and consist of a celular substance with very small pores.

Lightweight concrete usually comes in two types - Structural and fill or leveling. Both are stronger and more durable thay gypcrete. Lightweight concrete consists of lighweight aggregate (epanded clay or shale or natural pumice), cement and possibly some sand. You will be able to identify some individual particles.

There is an outside chance you have concrete made with perlite or vermiculite as an aggregate. This is another creature, but I am not familiar with it.

Just a bit of information.

Dick
 
  #4  
Old 09-19-06, 10:55 AM
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I stand corrected. Check out this thread.

http://www.floorstransformed.com/ceramic_tile/messages/23964.html
 
 

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