How to make an uneven, damaged 'rustic' tile floor even for tile & parquet laying

Question

I want to lay a tile border & parquet centre in my kitchen. That requires an even floor, ideally level too.

The existing floor is an uneven mix of badly damaged tiles, with some parts plain concrete (former chimney breast location).

From what I've researched, there are three options:

• Remove the tiles, and make it even with self leveling compound.
• Don't bother removing the tiles, make it even with self leveling compound on top of them.
• Apply a tile membrane to adhere it to the tile, and then tile/parquet on top of that.

Any other options I've missed?
Any no-no's?
What sort of adhesive to use?

Answer 1

Unless you are concerned about an asbestos material under the tile (such as old linoleum squares), I would remove any old material and start clean. If you keep building on top of the old materials, you might need to rip all your doors down to make them fit with the new floor. Conversely, you need to consider how high to make the new floor in relationship to the old floor. Last, while you may still need floor leveler, a better bet is to install a nice new clean level underlayment board such as concrete board, durarock, hardibacker, or other tile board for tile or a nice clean 1/4" sheet of plywood and paper for hardwood.