Floor tiling over wood

Ok, so this is an age-old-topic for discussion, and I've read through most of the old posts on this forum, but I'm still interested in people's experience.

My plan is this. I have a large chipboard kitchen floor. The floor has three particular faults - firstly: where two large pieces of flooring join in the center there is a slight ridge (very very slight, I mean about 1.5mm ridge). This spans the length of the room. Secondly: under the fridge-freezer there is another ridge where the floor declines slightly for some reason... and thirdly: when I walk across the room (on the bare floor) there is movement in the floor.

Anyway, I know tiling on less-than-perfect wood floors is a recipe for disappointment, but I'm going to do it anyway. My plan: 12mm exterior grade ply screwed at 200mm centers max in large (2.4m) sheets to minimise joints. Then a PVA seal applied to the ply, followed by 330mm square ceramic floor tiles with a flexible adhesive and grout. I may position the tiles so that they meet over the very slight ridge (instead of having tiles span the ridge) so that any cracking is centered on the flexible grout (or should I do it the otherway around since tiles themselves are less likely to crack... aren't they?).

Any experience of advice appreciated.

Reply to
Tony
Loading thread data ...

|Ok, so this is an age-old-topic for discussion, and I've read through |most of the old posts on this forum,

This is not a forum, it is a *usenet* newsgroup, Nothing to do with Google really. See sig.

Reply to
Dave Fawthrop

Thanks Dave. I've been using usenet since 1993 - yes, that's WAY before Google was even conceived - and I think I know enough to know not only what Usenet is, but also to know how to write a usenet client to connect to, download, view and post to news servers on TCP port 119 using NNTP.

With respect, my question was about ceramic tiling on wooden floors. It was not an invitation for needless pedantry. That said, you can proceed with your pedantry and you will, in traditional usenet style, be ignored.

Reply to
Tony

Thanks Dave. I've been using usenet since 1993 - yes, that's WAY before Google was even conceived - and I think I know enough to know not only what Usenet is, but also to know how to write a usenet client to connect to, download, view and post to news servers on TCP port 119 using NNTP.

With respect, my question was about ceramic tiling on wooden floors. It was not an invitation for needless pedantry. That said, you can proceed with your pedantry and you will, in traditional usenet style, be ignored.

Reply to
Tony

It is a forum (general term for place for discussion) and is a Usenet newsgroup. Forums (in the particular sense that you obviously mean) also exist outside Google.

Reply to
John Cartmell

|Thanks Dave. I've been using usenet since 1993 - yes, that's WAY before |Google was even conceived - and I think I know enough to know not only |what Usenet is, but also to know how to write a usenet client to |connect to, download, view and post to news servers on TCP port 119 |using NNTP.

90% of google users do not have a clue.

If you have been on usenet since 1993, why did you not quote my text? Slight contradiction there :-(

Reply to
Dave Fawthrop

Oh dear.

7 posts and no one addresses the actual problem.

How much flexure you can accommodate is hard to say..just screwing ply down won't stop flexure...but it will stop relative movement of adjacent bits of chip if that is a problem.

1.5mm ridges are simply a non issue if you use a thick enough bed of flexible cement. I recommend at lest 5mm or 1/4" if you can.

With luck, any flexure will put the tiles into compression and they alone will stiffen up the floor.

My advice would be to simply lay some level strings, get a shitload of flexible cement, and tile it as it is, to the strings.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Hmm...

Is it feasible to take up the chipboard floor and replace with 18mm WBP throughout, or is that just too horrendous an idea to contemplate? You can then screw directly to the joists (having levelled the whole thing up with fillets of wood, if necessary), and you won't have to worry about screwing into gas or water pipes.

This might not be a issue, but then again, it might well be!

My bathroom is about 2x2m, and that's what I did, and I admit it was a headache. But then, I never need worry about the tiles cracking!

Luke

Reply to
Wingedcat

For anyone who is interested, what I've done is screwed huge sheets (2.4 x 1.2m) of 12mm exterior grade ply over the whole floor and screwed about 1000 screws into it (!!). From reading around the general recommendation is that screws should be positioned at 20cm distances maximum. I've been a little bit conservative and probably average about

15cm distance (in a diamond pattern) throughout, with even more screws at door thresholds and where sheets of ply meet etc. I levelled out under the fridge-freezer by using offcut fillets to good effect (with lots of screws).

The whole floor is looking pretty level now, and there is absolutely minimal movement to my mind. I plan to coat a 4-to-1 mix of water and PVA before laying tiles with an (expensive!) flexible adhesive and grout (interestingly, best value I found was huge tub of pre-mixed unibond at Homebase priced at =A319.99 for 3.6 square meters coverage)...

I'll update again when I've laid the tiles...

Reply to
Tony

Right - I've laid the floor tiles and so far so good! The flexible floor tile adhesive is really quite flexible (I mean it will move a millimeter or so without cracking) and has a rubbery consistency. Overall, I'm completely satisfied with the result. I'm sure the 1000 screws really helped.

By the way, I didn't have the patience for the PVA coat... hopefully the exterior grade ply won't have absorbed so much moisture from the adhesive that the tiles start to lift in the near future. They are pretty firmly stuck right now (I can't lift them, even minutes after I laid them!)

T> For anyone who is interested, what I've done is screwed huge sheets

Reply to
Tony

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.