I want to lay some cushion vinyl tiles on an upstairs bathroom floor that is currently carpeted over floorboards in an ex-council house.
The floor looks too uneven to lay the tiles on directly, so I propose to fit a layer of either plywood or MDF first.
Checking out my local Focus DIY store, I can see a choice of panels that might fit the bill. 3mm MDF, 4mm MDF, 5.5mm 3ply.
Any suggestions here about what would be the best material for light use? And if it is either of those MDF panels, how best top cut it? Saw or shears? And would 20mm ringshank nails be OK to pin it down?
Probably none of them. Focus is a ghastly place to buy timber, poor quality, poor selection and high prices. Shopping around for a real board supplier (often not the same as a timberyard) will save enough to make it worth the effort.
I'd use 3mm oil tempered hardboard (if you can find it), as it's harder and a lot more water resistant than normal hardboard. MDF is a bad idea, as it's so moisture sensitive. Full colour MDF (Valchromat) is OK as it has extra resin and a bit more water resistance, but it costs more and is hard to find. Viroc's Versapanel sounds ideal for this (doesn't care about water) but it's brittle in thin sheets - use
10mm minimum, with 3mm polyethylene foam underneath, and don't have it flexing. If you're local to Bristol, Avon Plywood have all these.
In a bathroom it's admittedly a problem. I'd even consider laminate flooring, as cheaper grades of this are cheaper than plain boards of comparable water resistance.
Saw. Good excuse to buy a good jigsaw, if you have the budget (posts passim, Blue Bosch or Makita, the =A3150 quid models - no-one regrets it). If you're using a circular saw, set up a good bench with a long cut space, don't faff about on a Workmate. Also put the right blade in for thin boards - most circulars are sold with just ripping blades and they become far more useful with the right blade in.
Screws are easier than nails to achieve a good result. Get those heads low though. I'd do this with a separate drill and driver, one drilling with a countersink bit, the other driving.
Use exterior-grade ply, and screw it down. Countersink the screws, or buy some which are designed for tiling (backer-board screws over here, but I'm not sure if that terminology works in the UK) - they have ridges on the undersides of the heads and will countersink themselves.
To be honest, if you think you might upgrade to ceramic tile ever, just putting cement backer-board down instead of ply might be best - at least over here, it's comparable in cost to ply, should last even longer, and is appropriate stuff to tile onto.
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