Removing old bathroom tile-need some advice

Hannahandscottm · Mar 1, 2015

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and need some advice.
The wife and I bought our first house back in March of 2012. It's a single story ranch, built in 1954 and was a 1 owner. It also has a full basement with all hardwood flooring upstairs except for the bathroom. The bathroom is raised about 1 1/4" higher than the rest of the upstairs. We decided to try and bust up the old 1" square porcelain tile floor to put new tile in. We started at the doorway, because it was the only access point to where we could separate the tile from the subfloor. Once we started chiseling away at the tile, we noticed that there was a concrete slab underneath, about 1 1/4" thick and some of that concrete was coming up with the tile, so now we have a complete mess. With that said, I have some questions:
#1- what would happen if we busted up and removed the whole slab? There is wood sub flooring under the concrete. The only things I see that could go wrong is the toilet would set lower, door would have 1 1/4" more clearance, and it would expose the lower 1 1/4" of the wall below the original wall tile.
#2- could I put some kind of resin-epoxy or some kind of concrete repair over top of the broken pieces of the slab?
We don't plan on using actual ceramic tile to remodel the bathroom, instead we plan to use the thick laminate tile and grout between them. We used this method when we redid our kitchen floor when we first bought this house 3 years ago and it is still holding up very well.
Like I said, we are beginners and we are just looking for some professional advice . Nothing you say will hurt my feelings lol. Thanks in advance!!

Floorist · Mar 1, 2015

Waiting for one of the tile guys, but it sounds to me like the tile was set in an old mud bed. I don't think anyone does that anymore.

Hannahandscottm · Mar 1, 2015

Yeah I was thinking that.... I'm just hoping that I can tear the whole slab out and move on with it. We're going to get new doors and eventually redo the walls so the issue with the toilet, doors and the 1 1/4" showing at the bottom of the old wall tiles would be solved then. I'll try and post some pics tomorrow.

havasu · Mar 1, 2015

I'd recommend removing all the concrete mess, then using cement boards, then top with your new tile.

Incognito · Mar 1, 2015

sounds like a mud bed or "mud job" to me also

tearing it out is possible but not easy

I never actually tore one all the way down but I've had others chip off the tile leaving the mortar bed all jacked up----sounds like your deal

we subsequently chip away and clean up anything LOOSE and then float or self-level over top as smooth and flat as the new flooring dictates

you're on a raised slab so moisture isn't a concern

Ideally you'd take out that mortar bed, subfloor and replace with an underlayment grade plywood. I've never installed -----"thick laminate tile and grout between them"

sounds like you would need a very SOLID, smooth and flat substrate to me

read the manufacturer's instruction carefully

the grout is where I understand most failures occur with groutable vinyl tile

laminate that you can grout?

double check you terminology here

Hannahandscottm · Mar 1, 2015

I should have been a little more specific on what laminate tile I was thinking about using. It's traffic master brand and it's approximately 3/16" thick and it says that you can use real grout or you can use the caulk type grout (sanded), which I will use the real grout if I decide to go that route.
I think that I am just going to repair the concrete that I've messed up and level it out, then tile over top of the existing tile. I'm not too shabby in the concrete department lol so I don't think I would have an issue.