I started a floor tile job last week and after removing the carpet from the hall way,
I removed tile and mesh from the entrance.
I decided to take only the tile out from the 400 sf kithchen to save some labour and materials for the customer. The house is 20 years old. Later the customer decided to remove the mesh. How long does it last.
Can we just put a 1/4" concrete layer.

Hi Markos

I'm not sure I understand the question...you removed the existing tile and the wire lath scratch coat?...do you want to reinstall it? or go with 1/4 inch backer board?

Brian

I removed the tile and the wiremesh with cement was still intacked. Should the old wiremesh stay or go.

BRI.

what is the life expectancy for wiremesh
and scratchcoat if its only stapled down.
Can we just repair the damaged areas.

Where can you get 1/4" backerboard in toronto.

Hi Markos
You can get cement backerboard at most building supply stores, or if your up around Dufferin and Lawrence go to Olympia (if you don't mind a 2 hour wait) or Centura Tile.

The wire mesh has been a topic of discussion around these forums for awhile now and it seems that although we seem to agree it's not the best method ... we just can't get away from using it.

I would rip it all out Markos .... ice scrapers, crowbars and leather gloves. Any experience I have had with rip-outs is that the scratch-coat has usually crumbled to the the point that I wouldn't consider using it over again.

I have done patch jobs on old mud walls where parts of the mesh had to be removed but never on a floor.

See what the others have to say ....

Hi Markos
I'm afraid I have to agree with Harry...I've found that the wire mesh/scratchcoat method only works if you have a strong enough subfloor underneath. It's probably safer to just rip it out and start again.

Wow, the tiles must have come up easy if little damage is done to the scratchcoat and mesh. Did the trowled thinset stay on the scratchcoat and release from the tiles?

floors are never scratched!

Steven,

They,re talking about the unsavory habit of going around nailing lath to plywood and then skimming over it with thin set. They call this a "scratch." They thin set tile to it.

The trend seems to be wide spread. A number of us are trying to curtail the practice.

Regards,

John

John

I first learned about this lath and thinset thing when I was doing a bathroom remodel in a neighborhood where there was a lot of work going on. As I drove to the job each day, I passed by a house where I saw evidence of a tile job-buckets, bags of thinset, tile saw, stack of lath, etc.

Each day, I expected to see a mud box and sand and so forth, and then one day the trucks and materials were gone.


I started asking around, and that's when I discovered this thinset and lath thing. Since then, I have done a few demos of the stuff, and it doesn't seem to work very well.