basement floor

belly5 · March 3, 2010, 01:07 AM

i have a 65 year old house i just bought i had to take up all the old black vinyl tile in the base ment it was all cracked and chipped and i have three small kids now i have a floor covered in cutback adhesive all i want is to use the basement for storage and my toolshop what if any thing can i do to this floor i'm not to worried about appearance as far safety for my kids i tried a chemical stripper and just made a big black glop of crap that smeared all over the floor my next thought was maybe a heatgun and a scrapper i dont want to lowball it but i cant spend a ton of money on it either thanks for the input belly5

Jon Scanlan · March 3, 2010, 02:16 AM

Hello belly 5 I am from the otherside of the world but the guys here would probually need to know the size of the area as there are several ways of doing things. Maybe get some cheap sheet vinyl to cover the area? Maybe some carpet could work as well? Maybe bury whats on the floor now with a concrete type product? I will leave to the other guys here to help you now

BrianM · March 3, 2010, 06:48 AM

Skimcoat over the glue with Ardex Feather Finish. Depending on what you want to cover the floor with you might need a few coats to get it smooth. I don't recommend you do any aggressive scraping or sanding because of the possibility of asbestos. I hope you made some provisions for that.

If you don't want to spend too much money and it's just a utility space vinyl composition tiles are the cheapest effective floor for that use. The fact that those tiles were cracked and chipping is a real bad sign for the suitability of that concrete slab.

The right way to remove the cutback (bead blast) and seal for moisture (epoxy membrane) is a very expensive proposition. If you see evidence of severe moisture and alkalinity (white, flaky, powdery residue all along the seam lines of the old tile) then your new VCT would eventually fail along the same lines of the first one.

In that case you probably should consider other alternatives.

ortiz34 · March 3, 2010, 02:53 PM

hope it wasn't 9x9 asbestos

belly5 · March 3, 2010, 03:15 PM

the floor seems to be dry but is pitched badly in the center of the room the basement is roughly 750 sq feet there is a french drain and a sump pump set up as well basiclly i just need it livable so if one of my little guys 4 and 5 years old get down there they can't hurt themselves

getoverit · March 3, 2010, 05:50 PM

ortiz34 said

hope it wasn't 9x9 asbestos

65 years ago??I'm guessing that's all there was. In shades of black ,white ,red,grey, maybe blue? Forgot green.

Peter Kodner · March 3, 2010, 05:56 PM

getoverit said

65 years ago??I'm guessing that's all there was. In shades of black ,white ,red,grey, maybe blue? Forgot green.

More likely it is asphalt.

getoverit · March 3, 2010, 06:01 PM

Peter Kodner said

More likely it is asphalt.

Really Peter? I always thought the old VATs referred to vinyl asbestos. There was vinyl asphalt? It's true that I learn something new every day...Do you know when the switch was made from asphalt to asbestos?

And by the way...Welcome Belly..

BrianM · March 3, 2010, 06:26 PM

Guys, don't mix up when the house was built to when the basement floor may have been installed. All we know is that there's "cutback" down after the loose, cracked and broken tiles were removed. That could be asphalt, VAT or VCT depending on when the floor actually went in there. Can you imagine a house in 1945 with a "finished" basement? I don't think one in a hundred homes built in 1945 had any flooring or any conception that anyone would ever want flooring in the basement. This floor probably failed because there were no attempts to make the concrete suitable for flooring products that weren't MADE to be installed in basements. Somebody decided to slap some kind of tiles down there and I'll bet they looked GREAT for quite some time.

If I could SEE the floor (or some really high resolution photos) I could tell you with 95-98% probability whether you could get away with a replacement VCT after a skimcoat or if this is a floor that should be left sealed or painted with the expectation of continuous problem areas, repairs or replacement.

Peter Kodner · March 3, 2010, 06:27 PM

No asbestos in the old asphalt tiles. The adhesive was an asphalt emulsion, not cutback. They came 1/8 and 3/16 gauges. Blacks, browns, grays, dark greens, reds. Colors were quite limited and all were marbleized. No chip patterns in asphalt.

VCT came in the very late 50's.

BrianM · March 3, 2010, 06:30 PM

Peter Kodner said

No asbestos in the old asphalt tiles. The adhesive was an asphalt emulsion, not cutback. They came 1/8 and 3/16 gauges. Blacks, browns, grays, dark greens, reds. Colors were quite limited and all were marbleized. No chip patterns in asphalt.

VCT came in the very late 50's.

***
Hi Pete

How sure are you that neither the asphalt tile nor the adhesive had asbestos?
I've done some research and didn't find conclusive answers. Could you give me some sources for your opinion, websites or books I could find at my local library? This is something of particular interest to me. TIA.

Tandy Reeves · March 4, 2010, 06:27 AM

You want to cover the black stuff cheap? Ok get some pallets (look around and get some free) paint the bottom runners with latex paint (2 coats) and then sit them on the slab. Next get 1/2" sheets of marine plywood and secure to pallets. Now you have a safe and dry floor. If at some later date a pallet should rot just replace it with a new pallet.

pblnslee · March 4, 2010, 09:37 PM

If your basement does not have a moisture problem, why not just roll out some carpet. cut it in loose. If it is just storage/kids play area. Who cares if it perfect. Do it your self. Guests are not going to be down there to see it.

You would not have to remove the old glue.

Or even a loose lay vinyl.

belly5 · March 5, 2010, 03:16 PM

ya know that was what i was thinking last night i gauged the floor last night and the biggest offset is like a 1/8 of a inch i was thinking about laying some 12' home depot sheet vinyl only question is i was thinking of using doublesided gorilla tape on the edges and putting a bead of silicone on the edge just in case of water leak do you think that would work or do you think that might be overkill on the edges

Bill Watson · March 5, 2010, 03:31 PM

belly5 said

i was thinking about laying some 12' home depot sheet vinyl...

The only problem regarding the typical Home Depot 12' sheet vinyl is, they are paper/felt backed matrials. Layed over an asphalt or cutback type of adhesive, you will experience staining in a relatively short period of time. The stain will appear under the wear surface and will not be removable.
I agree that if you don't have much of a moisture issue, a "value priced" (

) carpet loose layed might be your best bet just to cover the floor.