i am planning to remove my old deck boards (which I plan to use in my pasture) and put down treated 3/4" plywood. I've been told i can put ceramic tile on that and grout it in, but i'm not sure so I plan to put backer board on top of the plywood and then lay the tile and seal the grout. Should I use regular thinset or construction adhesive to adhere the tile? Should I use grout with or without sand? How much grout space should I leave? This is an uncovered outside deck. Will this hold up outside?

The problem with a slope is it is rarely on the same PLANE. There are several floors that I know of that can handle a slight slope....but they cannot handle humps and bumps AS WELL as a slope. It is intensely rare to find a perfectly FLAT floor with a slope that is PERFECT. What happens? The click edges break with the stress. The little bumps and waves in a floor with a slope can and will stress the click system to the point of breaking. And it will happen over time. As it is walked on, the planks flex. As they flex, they cause stress fractures in the click system. Eventually the edges break and you get a floor that begins to gap. Once it starts, it is almost impossible to stop. While you wait for the vinyl edges to break, you will also get this lovely 'slappy' sound under your feet. The flex in a vinyl floor can be SO big it will visibly move every time you step on it. Again, this is more pronounced on a sloped floor that isn't flat. This is where laminate and vinyl are different. Laminate is very thick and very sturdy. Vinyl is thin and often quite easy to damage without proper training/preparation. In fact, the amount of swearing going on while a vinyl click together floor is being installed is IMPRESSIVE! And I grew up with 'angry Irish'. It takes a lot for me to call swearing "impressive". Vinyl planks are often very thin (4-5mm thick). That means the click egdes are VERY THIN (2mm deep...if you are lucky). That means there isn't much "grab". The tensile strength of the click system is very weak. A shift (when you step on it) up and down and a little side to side will rip the planks apart. Even if the edges remain intact (not broken), they simply do not have the strength to stay locked together. So imagine purchasing 1000sf for $4/sf = $4000. And imagine you then take 3 days to install it. Now imagine it fails within 6 months to 1 year. Will you feel the money you saved on the cost of subfloor prep ($2 - $4/sf) was worth it? Once you fix the basement subfloor (one time cost of $2-$4/sf depending on how bad it is) you can have ANY floor you want in there. You never have to fight with it again. I know that's not what you wanted to hear. Anytime there is a sloped floor (those basement drains are fun aren't they?), it is always best to remedy them before putting in flooring. The only floors that are OK with this type of floor = carpet and sheet vinyl/lino. Every other floor needs that basement slab to be fixed.

To the design question, of course you can have two different floors on two different levels. So long as the wood stairs match the 'main level' where the public would be most likely to be, then the private areas (such as upstairs bedrooms etc) can be whatever floats your boat. Lots of people have tile and wood on the main floor and then carpet on the upper levels. Totally acceptable. Now for the technical stuff. Vinyl has a chemical reaction to wood FINISHES. Yes. The colour you don't like is part of the wood finish. That colour has a tough finish over it (polyurethane). That polyurethane is most likely a petroleum product. The vinyl is 100% petroleum product. The two petro based products are going to have a chemical reaction. The wood floors will STAIN the vinyl sitting on top of them AND the vinyl is going to STAIN the wood sitting below it. Now for the MOISTURE issues. Vinyl acts like a water proof sheet. The vapour escaping from the wood below is going to hit the bottom of the vinyl. The moisture will be trapped. It will drip down onto the wood causing it to rot. Yah. Rot. So you not only have stained vinyl (ruined) you also have squishy, moldy, sticky hardwoods sitting below it (ruined). Now you have to replace both products. The advice = sand/refinish the hardwood on the main floor to a colour that works with the stairs. Average cost of a sand/refinish = $5/sf. It is one of the cheapest flooring 'purchases' you can make. Can you load a photo of the bad hardwood?

Mike A- There's more to it than putting on a respirator and pulling it up. Personal protection for asbestos abatement people is the easy part. It's all the other things you do to prevent the spread of fibers throughout your house and ductwork, and then properly disposing of everything. If you've never done this before, you should realize that it can be a challenge to get things completely removed, including the flooring adhesive that may also have asbestos in it. And, you often need a permit ot undertake this. Here is some guidance from a State environmental agency on DIY: Asbestos containing flooring Sometimes the best approach is to not disturb it, but to simply nail down a thin subfloor and then put your new material directly on that.