Metroflor subfloor prep. - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

gideond · 05-29-2008, 06:30 AM

I have a bit of a tricky situation to deal with. I recently decided to do some renovations on my kitchen at home. I want to use Metroflor Solidity Slate on it. I've stripped up the old sheet vinyl, the 1/4" particle subfloor under that and the old VCT under that. Now I'm left with a 3/4" diagonal slat subfloor with a 3/4" plywood subfloor over that. I'm having a lot of trouble getting all the thinspread up off the subfloor. I'm chemically stripping it now and plan to sand it afterward and skim it with Mapei PlaniPatch Plus. This seem fine according to their installation guide but I'm a bit worried about residual adhesive. The patch should seal it in but I haven't actually done much flooring installation before, especially of this variety. Any input on the situation would be appreciated. I would put new 1/4" birch subfloor down but we are trying to avoid raising the floor back up as it was a bit high to begin with.

Thanks in advance.

**genecarp** · 05-29-2008, 06:38 AM

can you change the 3/4''? is the 1/4'' buildup really going to impact you that much? all the steps you described to prep that floor sound time consuming and expensive, 1/4'' luan or birch sound good.

gideond · 05-29-2008, 07:10 AM

I could put 1/4" over it but my father is having a fit over raising the subfloor at all. Most of the stripping is already done. It's a matter of sanding and skimming.

Bud Cline · 05-29-2008, 09:20 AM

Plywood 1/4" or less IS NOT to be used in tile substrates. Testing has proven the 1/4" material to be problematic. Plywood of 3/8" is the recommended minimum thickness to be used.

I don't know what "Metroflor Solidity Slate" is. Maybe I'm off in the wrong direction. Is this a real slate or is this a faux product?

Chemical strippers also are not recommended when removing old adhesive in preparation for new tile. The Plani-Patch however is a good product and will allow you to skim-over adhesive remnants, if the strippers being used don't effect it.

csheafer · 05-29-2008, 11:29 AM

A agree with Bud.
The patch you are using is fine for floating over the old adhesive.
Make sure that you use the latex in with the patch.

Since you've already done all the hard work, you are almost home.

Good posts.

gideond · 05-29-2008, 02:16 PM

Metroflor Solidity is a Solid Vinyl tile that looks like slate.
We are using Stripeeze paint stripper to take this stuff up. It works well for this. After the remainder dries I'm going to sand the top a fair bit to try and remove any residue, even though we are neutralizing it as well. I didn't want to use a chemical stripper but after doing a lot of scrapping there just wasn't any choice. Thanks for the input.

Mike Costello · 05-29-2008, 09:16 PM

Solidity is a vinyl based tile with slate or ceramic in the wear layer.

I have found it to be a very unstable product with a bizarre finish that seems to attract dirt. Ive probaly done about 20 or so kitchens with it and I cringe every time I see it on the work order.

I just appraised a replacement of 2800 feet of it in a animal hospital. Someone put it in like vct. They spread the adhesive for the whole job and 2 guys set the tile. The first 200 feet or so was fine but the rest of the tile had improper adhesive transfer and its shrinking and curling like mad.

To the guy thats putting it in his kitchen- Do yourself a favor and install a 1/4 inch subfloor. Stay away from luan and use a product like Mutiply or Halex.

You will have a smooth clean surface. With all that adhesive removal and skimming your running the risk of having high and low spots. That particular floor doesnt sit well over them. It has a tendancy to lip just a tad at the seems and it appears to be enourmouse under the right light.

With a new subfloor , the proper notched trowel you will be able to do a good installation with it. Just dont spread any more adhesive than you can cover in a half hour. Let it flash for about 20 minutes after spreading ( air time) before starting. Roll it with a 100 lb roller then roll it again. Spread some more glue and spend the 20 minutes rolling some more.

Im pretty sure they have come out with a sealer for this product now. Its really porous so I would recommend using it after the proper glue curing time. It will tell you on the pail.

Check with who you bought the floor from about the sealer or try Metroflors website.

I would be very hesitant to cover that plywood you used the stripper on without covering it with a subfloor. Even an encapsulater can react negatively with solvents present in plywood

gideond · 05-30-2008, 06:04 AM

I actually sell the flooring, but we haven't done much with Metroflor just yet. It's a newer product for us. The more I'm reading into the less I'm liking the sound of it. I may go back to my original choice and just put IVC Fiberfloor in there. What really annoys me about metroflor other than the extremely particular prep work needed is that you have to wait 2 days before putting the heavy appliances back. I may as well install ceramic if I'm going to wait that long. I may have to talk my father into letting me put a new subflor in anyway. I don't rally like going over the plywood itself either, especially after stripping the adhesive. But it's his house so if he won't let me put 1/4" Bamply down I guess IVC will be the best choice since it's a lot more surface tolerant. Their rep has told me that even after stripping the floor all I have to do is skim it with PlaniPatch Plus and I can install right over it.

Thanks for all the input.

Floordude · 05-30-2008, 04:51 PM

I think PlaniPatch Plus, is for deeper fills, and not skimcoating like regular PlaniPatch. It has fiberglass reinforcement strands. Doesn't skimcoat so well.

gideond · 05-31-2008, 05:54 AM

There is only one PlaniPatch. Plus is just the latex additive that you put the in regular PlaniPatch to modify it.

Floordude · 05-31-2008, 07:52 AM

That is strange. I went to the website and it is the admix??

I got some bags about a year or two ago, of PlaniPatch PLUS or I thought that is what it was called It had strands of nylon or fiberglass in the mix.

I don't find it on their website, or anything describing something like that, now... Wait! I see something similar in the concrete restoration section PlaniTop, That isn't what I had was called. I swear it was PlaniPatch PLUS(could be renamed now. It has been a few years)

gideond · 05-31-2008, 12:21 PM

Mapei is odd about that. I have current products of theirs that I order all the time from Daltile and I can find absolutely not reference to them on Mapei's website. Now if I google search the items I can find links to the PDF data sheets on Mapei's site but there is no way to get to them directly from the webpage.