has anyone diy tiled? or ripped out carpet with concrete subfloor?

JSORIANO

DH and I are planning on replacing the carpet in the livingroom and the linoleum in the dining room with tile.  My dad has some knowledge of laying tile but isnt a professional.  Any tips?

Luvmy2sons

I DIYed tile in our laundry room which is on a concrete subfloor. It was actually pretty easy. Just make sure you use enough mastick and back butter it enough. With a concrete subfloor there's no "give" so the tile that I didn't use enough on cracked around the seams. We had to crack it out and replace. Not a huge deal, but I learned that way!

babygirlpriest

I think laying tile is one of the easier DIY projects.

Like pp mentioned, you just have to be very detailed and careful. As long as you pay close attention to each step and don't rush the prep work or go but the "looks pretty good" approach you'll be fine.

TheBridesMom

The part of our concrete subfloor that had been carpeted needed to be scraped and cleaned well before we could tile.  It seems they only did a good job getting drywall slop off of the area that was going to have tile or sheet...the other part had just enough lumps and stuff that the finished tile would not have been quite so easy to level.

JSORIANO

What did you use to clean the concrete? I figure I need to scrub the crap out of it because I have a dog who always peed in one particular spot. Can't wait for the surprises when the carpet is pulled up!

neeps

Tearing out carpet over concrete is easy. I did the majority of our house myself. If you have no plans for the carpet after you tear it out, cutting it in strips with a carpet knife - seriously spend $6 on this sooo much better than a plain utility knife. The padding is probably going to be glued to the concrete. One person pulling the padding up and away while the other scrapes under the glued areas was the best way we found to get the padding and glue both up - no mess left behind. A pry bar and a hammer will take the tack strips up easily. The concrete nails will probably leave little divots around the edges of the floor, but typically they're not big enough to worry about.

TheBridesMom

JSORIANO:

What did you use to clean the concrete? I figure I need to scrub the crap out of it because I have a dog who always peed in one particular spot. Can't wait for the surprises when the carpet is pulled up!

 

If your dog peed and it made it to the subfloor, use an enzymatic cleaner like Simple Solutions or my favorite (only available online and seems kind of pricey, but it is super concentrated and worth it).  Really, you should always use enzymatic cleaner/odor digester to clean up after pets. 

SusieQ1981

We just tiled our entryway last weekend.  I agree w/ the pp who said tiling is easy as long as you take your time.

Make sure your concrete subfloor is level.  This was the biggest issue we ran into - the house is not the greatest construction the concrete had definite high spots which caused us issues in making the finished floor level.

We had stripped several layers of linoleum and other vinyl floor covering to get down to the bare concrete.  We used a generic muriatic acid from Lowe's to clean & etch the concrete before laying down the thinset & tile.  It smells when you mix it so have a mask & rubber gloves handy.

suzymarie

We contemplated it in our basement.

But.  it wasn't perfectly flat.  SO GLAD we didn't try to tackle that ourselves, as the experience handyman we hired had a heck of a time too.  So, I would say go for it if your floor is really flat.  But if not- hire someone.