Considering heated Tile floors

[Pete Masterson]

I can affirm that the tile doesn't come up easily -- and it's a multi-
day job. I replaced the flooring from the doorway to the bedroom,
down the side aisle past the bathroom all the way to the dashboard
with bamboo flooring planks (glued down).

While the galley area tile was it pretty good shape, it was laid with
a concave border on one side and (with my skill set) I felt that I'd
never be able to cut the floor planks to meet attractively to the
tile -- so out it came.

It was very firmly glued down over a base of 'Wonderboard' (a cement-
like sheet) that was in turn glued and screwed into the 1/2" plywood
sub-floor. Unlike Ernie, I don't have an air chisel, so removal was
done using a pry-bar and 10# sledge hammer. This didn't toss much
dust around -- but it did tear up the sub-floor significantly. It
took about 5 or 6 hours to pull up all the tile in the kitchen area.
That's not a full day, but I was pretty well "done" for the day once
the tile was up and the area swept up and vacuumed.

I used my circular saw to cut out a section (about 3 x 6 feet) of the
subfloor. Adjust the depth of the blade carefull, as there be steel
underneath, so expect to ruin a circular saw blade (at least I did --
but it was an old one). After screwing down the replacement sub-floor
piece (you'll need to drill pilot holes in the steel sub-subfloor), I
touched up the remaining area (and small gap around the sub-floor
patch) with self-leveling filler.

Then I was able to proceed with laying the new flooring (a multi-day
job itself).

I could not have done this while on the road ... it was only possible
to do while we were at 'home base.' Had we opted to replace the
carpet instead of going to the bamboo, the time spent with the
project would have been considerably less -- and I wouldn't have had
to pull up the tile...

Pete Masterson
'95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42
aeonix1@...
On the road at Lockhart, Texas



On Nov 19, 2007, at 6:52 AM, erniecarpet@... wrote:

> Liz, heated tile floors are quite common in our northern climates.
> After
> just completing Wallace and Fayes 95 42 WLWB, I can shed a little
> light on what
> you need to expect. Their coach had some cracked tiles, also.
> Although, those
> tiles came up fairly easily, the rest was a different story. We-
> Bim Burt and
> I had to use an air chisel, to get up the tile- in little pieces.
> That
> process took 2 days of intense labor. The dust, even though we
> covered couches,
> chairs, and bed was everywhere. That is the only way to take that
> material up.
> Of course, you cannot live in the coach while this process takes
> place. We
> took an additional 2 days to do the wood installation. I suspect
> that tile
> installation would even take longer. Again, you must vacate the
> coach, as you
> cannot walk on the tile till the mastic/thinset hardens.
> The expense of motel rooms must be factored in your price, along
> with the
> labor to remove the tile, grout and thinset- to make the floor
> smooth. The price
> for your heated mats are quite expensive, also. On our demo, we
> gouged the
> floor due to the fact that the tile and mastic would not come up
> inless you
> chiseled under that material. We had to put some leveling material
> down to
> counteract that previous procedure.
> I don't want to scare you on this project, just to give you some
> insight on
> what to expect.
>
> Ernie Ekberg
> 83PT40
> Weatherford, Tx
>
>
>
>
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