A bit out of sequence, but this
is
the old tile floor. Ugly is an understatement. The tile was never
sealed properly so everything spilled for the past 20 years stained it.
After
removing the cabinets and appliances, much to my surprise I discovered
cement!!. What you see below is tile set in a "mud bed". This is a
technique that has been used since Roman times and is extremely
durable.
Tile in Mud Bed
The
good news is that there were no significant cracks in either the cement
or tile nor any loose tiles. The bad news is that the only way to get
this thing our was with a jack hammer and a lot of muscle.
Since, as I said, the underlying substrate was solid, although a bit
uneven I opted to put the new tile directly over the old.