When I bought my house, its marble floors appeared to be in good condition. However, they have steadily chipped, fissured and fractured until reaching their current fragmented state. The picture shows where the gap in the subfloor directly aligns with the cracks in the overlaid tiles.
This post discusses improperly installed tile that was mortared directly over a subfloor. Some of the responders warn the original poster to redo the project immediately, and to install a backer board before mortaring the tiles.
Tile directly adhered to subfloor
Is there any alternative to tearing up the entire floor? I want to ensure that no other options remain before fully removing them.
Thanks in advance.
Best Answer
Natural marble is tough on a good base won’t hold up well at all in most cases with a substandard base. Since you have already started you might as well continue. Get a wider brick chisel this helps pop them off easier, that’s what I use like a Dasco Pro. If you stay with tile use a backer and use thinset to glue the backer to the wood then screw it down makes it much more solid base. If you have a air compressor here is where a air chisel can shine and pop the tiles really quick. I would verify that is tile below it looks like wood and may be the sub floor. A better picture of the surface below may change the suggestion what year was the home built.