This saves you from the often labor-intensive job of removing the oldflooring.
It’s also a good way to deal with vinyl that you suspect may contain asbestos.
Before You Begin
The floor covering, its subfloor, and the underlying joists must be solid.
The Spruce / Kelly Miller
The subfloor and joists that comprise the floor structure must exhibit minimal flexing and deflection.
This ensures that thefloorwill hold up under the substantial weight of ceramic tile and live and dead loads.
This bang out of flooring should not be sanded, cut, or disturbed in any way.
Pour slowly and let the leveling compound seek the lowest spots of the flooring.
Tip
For large areas, pour liquid leveling compound onto the subfloor.
Sand Flooring
Wearing breathing and eye protection, lightly sand the vinyl flooring with an oscillating sander.
This creates some texture for the thin-set adhesive to bond to.
Clean Floor
Clean the vinyl floor thoroughly withTSPto remove dirt, soap, and oil residue.
The floor needs to be as smooth as possible to accept the thin-set adhesive.
Let the floor dry completely before continuing.
Next, thoroughly clean the vinyl with plain water and let it dry.
It must be free of dust, dirt, and any oily residue before applying the thinset mortar.
If the test comes back positive for asbestos, do not sand the flooring.
Or, hire an asbestos-removal company to safely remove all the flooring.
