Decorative Concrete Over Linoleum Glue?
I am considering tearing up the linoleum in our kitchen and pouring decorative concrete. I’ve found lots of how-to’s regarding the concrete itself, but no specific info as to what kind of leveling/re-surfacing I need to do beforehand. Can I get away with leaving the old linoleum adhesive in place and pouring a liquid self-leveler…
I am considering tearing up the linoleum in our kitchen and pouring decorative concrete. I’ve found lots of how-to’s regarding the concrete itself, but no specific info as to what kind of leveling/re-surfacing I need to do beforehand. Can I get away with leaving the old linoleum adhesive in place and pouring a liquid self-leveler down and then the concrete? Do I even need to put leveler down first, or will the concrete self-level enough that it wouldn’t be necessary?
I would agree with the question of WHY concrete in your kitchen… it’s hard, dishes and glassware will break, and if you stand around in there a lot, say, cooking, it will be hard on your body physically.
Why not get some nice new linoleum? Or maybe cork?
are you going with concrete for price?
Is this an old house with wood joists? Jump up and down on the floor… if there is any bounce you will need to stiffen the floor. How big is the kitchen? You will need to make sure the floor can support all that weight.
I’m not a fan of concrete floors unless you are using radiant heat. Otherwise it’s cold and hard on the joints.
Research using a double membrane system used in tile floors or Install cement backerboard using modified thinset mortar taping the joints with fiberglass.
I wouldn’t bother with the self leveling compounds. I would practice with the cement before as timing is very important to achieving that mirror surface you desire. Are you going to use stains?
If you have a wood floor you are going to have to install a Durock subfloor for the concrete, just like you would have to do for tile.
Make sure your floor is stiff enough or you will get a lot of cracking if it flexes.
Is the floor on joists or a slab? Joists flex a slab won’t. If you have a slab below pour directly on it.
As long as this is more than a skim coat I wouldn’t worry about the mastic too much, clean what you can an screw wire mesh to the wood to key the concrete to the floor, it also helps control cracks. A layer of 3/4″ plywood screwed to the existing floor will stiffen it substantially.
Concrete is not self leveling but is easily, with some skill, made level or flat.
If it’s truly linoleum and not vinyl, chances are you have a hide glue over sub flooring. Hide glue is water soluble (Think industrial strength LePages Glue or postal mucilage). I am not sure whether water soluble glues play nice with other wet materials (ie, cement). You might want to remove the sub floor as mopar suggests. Hide glue is usually dark brown or black. You can test for it by pouring hot water on a small area, wait a few minutes and try a paint scraper. The material will scrape up if it’s hide glue.
More modern vinyl flooring has a petroleum based glue which would be removed or remedied in other ways.
There may be a plywood subfloor under the linoleum that you can tear out, thus leaving you with zero mastic.
Wouldn’t you want to seal the floor really well or lay down a barrier? Couldn’t that self-leveling concrete get through cracks in the wood floor and pour through?! Doesn’t it have to have a very stable surface to sit on anyway so it doesn’t crack?
There’s a pebble-glued-with-acrylic flooring I’ve seen in stores. It looks nice and apparently just needs to be hoovered. It is quite flexible and resilient.
I’d do some more research. I had this professionally done in my old manhattan condo and they had to grind down through the wood floor mastic (glue) to a concrete surface.
How thick are you pouring???