Laying Engineered Boards Direct on Tiles

[Jeremy Home]

Hi
I’m about to lay an engineered wood floor in my living room.

The original floor throughout the house, built 1970, is concrete.

I expected concrete directly under the carpet, but as you can see, it’s tiled. I’m not sure what they are made of, but they are very thin.

I wondered about dispensing with a damp proof membrane, and laying the boards direct on top of these tiles. There’s no way I’m going through the agro of taking them up.
It will be a floating floor. Not glued. What does anything think?

Thanks in advance

 

[Deleted member 292770]

don’t lift them if you don’t have to. They may contain asbestos.
lay your underlay/dpm as normal and crack on.

 

[Keithmac]

Probably Marley tiles, I left all ours down and floored over the top.

They do contain asbestos and are glued down with a tar like substance that also acts as damp proofing.

If they are in good condition leave them alone and floor over the top.

 

[Jonny4_]

As said above the bitumen under the highly likely asbestos containing tiles acts as your DPM.

buy a decent underlay that’s thick enough to hide any unevenness and put the flooring over.

 

[Jeremy Home]

Thanks for all the replies. I suspected they might be asbestos containing tiles.
I’ve taken the carpet up, and the tiles were generally in good condition, despite being 50 years old.
Unfortunately when I pulled up the gripper rods all the tiles around the edge shattered. Unavoidable. I swept all the broken bits wearing a mask.
I definitely intend to put a dpm down now, but also think I should paint all round the edge of the room to seal it first. This is to stop further dust.
Anyone got any recommendations for what to seal it with.?
Also just how dangerous are these tiles.?
Thanks