Tiling over a slightly uneven concrete slab

[rklotz]

Im in the process of gutting a tiny half bath and Im about to tile the floor. After pulling up the original flooring and cleaning it, I did a quick dry layout of some of the tiles and noticed that a few spots in the floor were not 100% level. At this point I put down 1/4 inch backerboard to try an dlevel the floor. Unfortunately the problem is still there. Can I get away with going a little heavy with the thinset in the uneven areas? I know there are self leveling compounds, but I'd like to avoid that if possible.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Most of my ideas are either way too involved, or dead wrong. But, what if you installed a temporary wooden frame around the edges, there the molding would normally be, and pour in a thin layer of concrete, enough to level the entire floor? Remove the frame, replace with molding.....

I dunno.....

[rklotz]

Thanks for the suggestion but I was hoping to avoid raising the floor any higher. I already put in the cement board which added another 1/4 inch.

[EXT]

The cement board should be set in Thinset, adjusting the thickness of the Thinset mix to level the board. 1/4" board is a little thin if the floor is not perfectly flat with enough firmness.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Is that stuff easy to push around, like wet cement, so you can take a few minutes to level it, or is it a gooey pain in the ass to work with?

[Banty]

Sounds like an application for vinyl flooring. Works for uneven floors and thinner, too, since you have a floor height concern. You can get some really great remnants for your small space, some of the currently available flooring is quite nice looking. I do love tile and have it everywhere reasonable for a NE U.S. home (upstairs entryway, kitchen floor and backplash, bathroom floor and walls). But downstairs where I have an uneven slab, I have tile-look vinyl in two entryway areas. There are other looks if you don't like tile-look that isn't actually tile.

Don't push tile too hard - it will crack if the floor isn't flat and stable enough. At least in the grout lines.

Banty

[Oren]

Easily pop a chalk line in a few areas around the room..... lack of chalk on the floor might indicate the low areas needing level.

-- Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."

[Al Bundy]

[e-mail] wrote in news:1171293632.178307.88200 @a34g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

Why? It's apparently what you need. Backerboard you put down glued? :-(

[Norminn]

Does the entire floor slant, or are there just low spots? How much difference between the lowest and highest spots?

When we had rooms tiled, the installer put thinset on thicker to slant some tiles so they would be level with the adjoining terrazzo floor. The slant is not noticeable at all, but the added depth is probably only about 1/4" or 3/8".

[edee em]

Why hasn't anyone asked the following question: How unlevel are you in the concerned spots? I'm sure that you can get a deeper trowel if it's 1/8" or a 1/4" out.