There are really only a few types of flooring that people choose for their home. You can have carpet installed, tile, stone or hardwood. Many homeowners have two types of flooring in their home, being carpet in the main living space and bedrooms, and tile in the areas that use water such as kitchens, bathrooms and laundry rooms. When you choose to have hardwood floors they are a functional type of flooring that can be used in all areas of the home. Hardwood floors can run throughout consistently and tie it all together. If you are sick of your tile floors and want to make a change to something more natural and beautiful, hardwood floors are the way to go. Hardwood comes in many different types of wood and colors to fit any homes décor. The problem from going from tile to wood is that you have to prepare the floors. Mike’s Custom Flooring do NOT recommend hardwood floor installation directly over ceramic or other tile. Some of the reasons you should remove the tile and thinset first, include issues with adhesion, warranty, and the increased height of the new floor, particularly at doorways and around appliances etc. We do not take shortcuts as they could affect the future performance of your hardwood floors!
Mike’s Custom Flooring Outlines What it Takes to Demolish & Replace Tile Floors with Hardwood Floor Installation
Removal of Old Ceramic Tile & Thinset: The first step is to understand what it will take to remove the tile from the subflooring. To start the removal of the tile floor you need to first break up the tile. This is going to be really messy and take some time if you don’t know what you are doing. The tile is glued down with an adhesive called thinset that is keeping it tacked down to the ground as well as the grout. When the tile is broken up you will have a serious amount if dust around your home so be prepared for that. Note that when you hire a professional like Mike’s Custom Flooring, we utilize a lot of wall protection and plastic for easy clean up and to lessen the dust in your home. After you have removed all the tile with a sledge hammer or other tool you will need to remove all the debris from your floors. This is not a light job and the tile will be quite heavy. That is only part one of the removal process since you still need to deal with the left over thin set. This is the layer of adhesive and the thinset will need to be scraped off the floor to prepare it for a new floor. This may be the longest part of the process and will make a bigger mess that breaking the tiles. If you have never used tools that are necessary to accomplish this task it is best left to a professional.
Remove All the Tile & Thinset from the Concrete: Now that the flooring is broken up and the thinset is scraped free you can get on with removing the debris from your home. The debris will need to be secured in construction rated trash bags and placed in an appropriate receptacle so that the garbage truck will take it away. Most sanitation companies will only pick up a certain amount of weight so you may have to rent a dumpster. Having it all taken away by a professional hardwood flooring company is clearly your best bet.
Prepare The Floor For New Hardwood Flooring Installation: After the old floor is removed, the new floor needs to be prepped so that it is clean and ready for the new floor. If this step is skipped or not done correctly your new floor might not stay down and could lift. Now the new hardwood floors can be installed. You need to know what floors you want and the process that will be used to do the installation such as nailed down, glued down or even a floating floor. If you aren’t sure, know that Mike’s Custom Flooring offers consultations to help you decide!
Ceramic Tile Demolition, Removal & Hauling, Subfloor Preparation & New Hardwood Floor Installation in Charles Town & Eastern Panhandle of Berkeley & Jefferson Counties in WV | Winchester & Frederick County | Round Hill & Loudoun County | Fairfax County VA.
If you want to remove your old tile floors and have new hardwood floors installed give Mike’s Custom Flooring a call to come out to do the demolition for you and install the new floors expertly as well!
