Flooring Tile - Picture of cross section of floor...need help identifying layers.

Our kitchen is 3/5 of an inch higher than the hardwood floors throughout the rest of the house. We want to replace the vinyl in the kitchen now with ceramic tile, but I'd like to have a good guess at what I'll be encountering once I start ripping up the floor. I took this shot (sorry all I have is a 2 megapixel Canon S200), from the laundry room which has a step down into it. The black on the top is a plastic step that runs under the door that separates the laundry room from the kitchen.

Can anybody offer a guess as to what all these layers are? The white part on the bottom I believe is the foundation.

Shot of the floor (http://www.hroptions.com/floor2.html)

Thanks!

can't really tell from the photo but it lookss like 2 layers of what may be viny lof some sort.The first layer is the one i would be most concerned with as it may be v.a.t.(vinyl asbestos tile)which obviously contains asbestos.

The problem comes in when you start to remove the tile and the particles become airbourne, bad news.Take the layer (s) up to the point that you can get a look at the first layer and see if these are tile 9" to be exact .These 9" tile are the ones that are v.a.t tile and should not be messed with.You can take the floor down to that level and then go over the remainder with the durock and tile.
Wile on this subject when w as the last layer installed?If after the mid to late 80's then the concern for asbestos go's down dramaticaly.

How did you arrive at 3/5's anyway.

Also find out witch layers go under the cabinets and set you're saw to that depth so you can cut the plywood around the cabinets to that depth or are you pulling those out too? if so then disregard the last.Get back to us
:cool:

Picture is too dark to see very much, but the two middle layers look like particle board with some kind of vinyl.

Whatever it is, you should remove all of it and start fresh. There's way too many layers there to add more. Floorman has a good point about asbestos.

Thanks very much, guys.

It's 3/5 of an inch above the hardwood floor. I got eye level with it and measured. Here's a picture of where they meet...not a very good one again, but you can get an idea. pic (http://www.hroptions.com/flooring.html)

This cross section is from the other side of the kitchen where there's a huge step down to the laundry room.

So I should, providing there's no evidence of asbestos, tear up both of those thicker layers of particle board? Should I not be able to see the subfloor from the aspect of the first picture?

I don't know when the floor was done, but I suspect in the 90's some time, but it was done cheaply and I wouldn't count on any inspections having been done at that time.

I looked at your first pic again and can't figure out what the white part is at the bottom. Is that painted concrete?

There's about a ten inch step down into the laundry room from the kitchen. That white part is the painted wall below the top of the step. There's another step down about six inches into the garage which is ground level.

if there is no fear on it being asbestos then go ahead and take it down to the original sub-floor and start from scratch.

make sure the sub floor is stable and the proper thickness at least 5/8 ply wood,no particle board.Get back to us and let us know when you are ready for the durock and we'll talk you through it:cool:

I called my home inspector. He didn't come out, but, based on my observations that there are three layers of vinyl flooring, he said it was likely there was asbestos. He also gave me the address of a lab that could test some material.

So, what should I do? Should I look for some black material and take a sample in to be analyzed? Should I hire someone to come out and remove the floor for me? Should I just do it myself anyway and put up a dusk shield and wear a mask? Should I not bother with this?