Q:I am tiling my bathroom and in the process of re-tiling the shower stall. I removed the old plastic liner there and now some of the glue remains on the greenboard. Also, some of the green part of the board is ripped of from when the glue came off with the old liner. Some of the paper is flakey in spots. I pulled off some of the loose pieces, but there is more. Now, I‘m an amateur. I was told to use some grout sealer to go over the greenboard. However, since there are flakey pieces of paper from the greenboard on there still, should I simply remove as much as I can before sealing and tiling? Will the seal glue these flakey pieces down and make them secure for tiling? What is your advice? Many thanks!

First of all, remove the greenboard that was under the tile. Replace it with cement board-that's a MUCH better subbase for tile. The peeling you experienced with the board that's up will cause you problems down the road. If you can't remove the greenboard, then your best bet is to sheet over the greenboard with 1/4 cement board, available in the flooring department at Home Depot. You will need to transition the tile where it meets the drywall outside the shower. In no case do you want to apply tile to the damaged greenboard. It will not last.

Q:I accidentally tiled over an outlet cover. What can I do to fix this issue with out having to remove all the tile?

Go to the electrical section of your home improvement store and purchase an electrical proximity tester. This device looks like a big pencil and will light and beep when it comes near live wiring. You can use it to locate the outlet underneath your tile. Mark the location. Clear away the grout from the tile(s) covering your outlet and remove those tiles. Cut new tiles to fit around your outlet. What I don't understand is how you could cover up outlets, as obvious as they are.

Q:I live in a condo. The previous owner had off-white ceramic tile installed on the entire first level! I don‘t like it - can it be covered with hardwood or does all the tile need to come up? Thanks

This depends on a few things. Is it a completely flat surface or is the tile sculptural and have a wavy top surface? Would you consider a floating floor system? These are usually either laminates or engineered and can go over a foam sheeting which could be placed on top of the tile. You could also do a glue down depending on how flat the surface is, and if the tile is down well and not loose. A solid 3/4 thick nail down would not work well unless you took up the tile and made sure the sub floor was a good working surface. My choice in a condo would be to float a floor over a foam sheeting. Engineered although they have warranties probably will scratch etc and depending on what you choose may or may not be refinish-able. Plus in 10-15 years you may not be there and/or the tile may be in style again or carpet could come back or lighter colored flooring etc. Owning it, I would go with an inexpensive engineered, they are much richer looking than the laminates and you may appreciate that if you ever sell. He is right you will have to plane down doors and cut jams and also pop your moldings and reuse or replace them. But that is easier than tearing out tile even if it is on a nailed down wire system on plywood rather than backer board. And, flooring hieghts may differ because the thickness of the tile and together with what it was attached with, may not be the same as the floor you choose anyway. Sometimes in order to make up the difference they lost by taking out the tile and backer or scratched wire, people go with a 3/4 solid which are generally (unless you find a deal) higher in price. Plus if it is a wire job you may also have to replace some of the plywood flooring after the rip out. But keep in mind you need a flat surface to avoid all that tile rip out.

Q:I have granite tiles I want to put on a kitchen countertop. I removed the laminate and underneath is about 1.5 thick of a particle board of some sort. The countertop is very sturdy and the board is in great shape. I know if this stuff get wet, you can have problems, but otherwise it seems to be very sturdy stuff. I know most people will say you need to put down a sheet of hardibacker, but I don‘t see the point. With a top grade thinset, these tiles will definitely adhere to the board extremely well. Grount lines will be extremely tiny and I‘m going to double seal everything with a really good sealer. I don‘t see anyway water is going to penetrate these tiles and thinset and get to the particle board. That‘s really the whole issue, right?

You can do that no problem. Particle board is a very stable material as long as it doesn't get and stay wet a long time. Make sure you seal the edges of the particle board (if you're not covering them with tile). That's the area that's most vulnerable to water damage because of water that drips off of the top of the counter. But I have to say....tile as a counter is outdated and tacky. Get with the program. Use solid granite or solid surfacing. Tiled counter tops are embarrassing.

Q:Once my hand accidentally touched the sun sun tiles, even by electricity a bit, but not small. Why is that? Explain the reason.

Electrostatic generation is to produce electricity on the surface of the insulator. The main material of the tile is silica, various metals and compounds, which are themselves bad conductors, and have many pores at the time of sintering. They easily absorb moisture to form conductors. Will gather the charge to produce static electricity. So you said the static electricity should be friction or what the surface of the material.

Q:Anyone know if that type of ceiling tile has asbestos? Unsure of the year built. It has a texture to it which is why I‘m worried about it.

No. That looks like just ordinary lay in ceiling tile. Texture is not really and indication of asbestos. Lots of things have texture that are not asbestos.

Q:I have some cracked squares in my kitchen.It is caused from the subfloor coming up in one section.What is the best way to remove old tiles and screw floor back down to and replace with extras that I have.I have the glue left over also to use on them.I know my husband had hard time getting them up once before.Tired of waiting for hubby to do it.Any easy ways for me to get tile up.

Get the biggest hammer you can find, the biggest screw driver, the biggest pry bar and just before your hubby gets home place them on the floor and act like your getting ready to go at it, I bet it won't be long before you can watch how its done :) My mother would do this and it worked ever time.

Q:I have ceramic tile in my bathroom and I don‘t like it. It‘s extra slippery and very cold in the winter. Yes I do use a rug but the parts that are exposed are cold. I want to put those peel-n-stick tiles on top of them, but what do I have to do to prepare the floor if it‘s even possible to do this? Thanks in advance for any tips and advice!

If you are going to be in your house forever, use carpet. If not, do not remove it as it is an asset to your property. If you use peel and stick in a bathroom, they will eventually start warping and lose their grip. I doubt the peel and stick tiles will be any better regarding temperature than the tiles you have now. Tiles are valuable when you go to sell and I would advise you not to change that. Use a rug if you want, but do not hide or change the tiles.

Q:How to calculate the area of the toilet and kitchen tiles

Such as the kitchen is 3 meters wide and 2.5 meters high. The area of the wall should be the circumference of the kitchen by height (2.5 + 2.5 + 3 + 3) * 3. = 33 and then remove the door and the window area is about 31 or so. Mainly look at your window size. The door area is basically a multi-square. Finally, the wall about 22 square feet up and down. The floor area is 7.5 square feet. Then use the wall area in addition to the area of the brick you choose. Such as: brick is 300 * 450 = 0.135. The ground is also true. The bathroom is so calculated.

Q:What purpose does it serve? Is it safe to assume the tile will settle half of the trowel thickness? For example, if using a 1/4 inch trowel, will the tile settle 1/8 inch when set in place? Thanks for any help/advice!

Thinset cements the tile to the subfloor. The settling depends on the tile, and whether or not you press it down.