Removing Cement Floors
we are just beginning to get our heads around 2 bathroom redos on the second and third floor. we are keeping the bathrooms in their current location. the previous owner at some point during her upgrade in the late 70’s put down about 6inches of cement under the tile flooring of just the bathroom area….
we are just beginning to get our heads around 2 bathroom redos on the second and third floor. we are keeping the bathrooms in their current location. the previous owner at some point during her upgrade in the late 70’s put down about 6inches of cement under the tile flooring of just the bathroom area. this makes these rooms a step up from the hall which is awkward. I am assuming this was done, in theory, to add floor support. seems like that would make the floor itself heavier- question, if we take out the cement when we redo does that compromise anything and also i really don’t get why they put it there?
Sometimes they used to fill in between the floor joists with the left over coal boiler ash. Then over this they poured a 2 inch base of cement. The reason you have a step up could be that the floor joists are no longer level. Tom’s right about stripping it back down to the subfloor or the joists and using wonderboard, but if the joists are out of level you can either shim up the plywood subfloor or use a liquid cement based leveler. If you plan on tiling the walls make sure the floor is level.
that’s what i thought but i just wasn’t sure- thanks so much!
agree – remove the cement and lay “cement board” — your beams will thank you for it later.
The cement floor is how they used to do it. It was mostly for waterproofing and provide a stable level floor for the tile. I doubt the cement is 6 inches thick though. There is probably under it a subfloor (possibly a 1 inch tongue and groove) and the floor beams, probably 3″ x 10″.
Break the tiles out with sledge hammers and pull out all the cement. You might see a subfloor. Perhaps it is poured right into the beams with no subfloor. If you have a subfloor, clean everything out till you have full subfloor exposed. Put down either Hard-i-Backer board (half inch thick) or “Wonderboard”. Then get thinset and tile. Apply the thinset and tile. Thats it!
If you have no subfloor, put down 3/4 plywood, then the backer or wonder board and tile away!