Laying porcelain tiles in bathroom

[Deville]

Any reason why these can't be laid straight onto the existing chipboard floor? I'd like to avoid an extra layer of plywood if possible.

[John Schmitt]

How sure are you it is flooring grade chipboard? You do not . as such need to retain the chipboard as this will cause a step (the tiles will anyway unless you plane down the joists).

will probably be useful.

John Schmitt

[Deville]

There's a layer of lino on it and a layer of cork tiles on top of that so I don't know what the surface looks like yet.

I'm not sure I understand this. The rest of the flat has 14mm hardwood flooring on top of underlay on top of the chipboard (at least outside the bathroom) so there will be a step at the bathroom door of some kind anyway.

Thanks, I've bookmarked it.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Just a heads-up... Porcelain tiles can be very slippery when you step out of a bath or shower onto them. I have them in a bathroom and I like them, but I keep a rubber-backed bath mat in front of the bath/shower to avoid slipping. I would think twice about installing them in a bath/shower room which might be used by an elderly or infirm person.

[Grunff]

We have porcelain tiles, but they have a textured surface, which is both coarse and has stone-like ripples across it. It is anything but slippery.

[Mike Dodd]

Been there, seen it, done it (albiet with ceramic floor tiles).

Lasted 2 days before I gave up, ripped them up (after spending an age cutting them around the furniture) and replacing with laminate.

Short story - the floor was not stable enough, and the grout / bonding agent not flexible enough. I've since seen more flexible adhesives but unless there's been an order-of-magnitude improvement between these and what I used some 3-4 years ago then I'd be nervous about tiling onto the chipboard.

[zymurgy]

I used 6mm ply over floorboards, so i've not much experience of chipboard. If there's appreciable give when you walk on it then i'd say don't put floor tiles down. I used fairly big tiles (600 mm across) and a good wood floor tile adhesive. 2 years later, one tile is just starting to give, but as it was heavily grouted, the grout seems to me stablilising the floor. Not enough movement to have to redo, but i'm keeping an eye on it ..

Paul.

[John Schmitt]

The remaining adhesive under the lino needs to be removed with a vengeance.

My long term plan is to create a dais-type floor in the bathroom with a couple of steps, so that the bath is sunken relative to the floor. I will also go for cork flooring, due to its general comfort and non-slip tendencies. Stiletto heels are death to cork, but I never wear them, at least in the bathroom. ;-)

You will find that I am not the only member of this NG who has written useful FAQs. The amount of knowledge collectively held continues to astound me.

John Schmitt

[John Schmitt]

Seconded. As I commented earlier cork tiles are my choice and while I am not particularly into tree-hugging, they are from a renewable resource. I was quite taken aback when I saw my first /Quercus suber/ which had been harvested. They just ring-bark it, a procedure which would kill most trees. Four or five years later, the bark has grown back and is harvested again.

Quite a number of years ago, in my Scout Leader guise, I was involved in a trip to the now defunct Fantaseas in Chingford.This water park had smooth tiles in the changing room and I found enough difficulty keeping a foothold with wet feet. Worse still the boys by their nature were running around on this treacherous surface. When they were all in the minibuses, the leaders breathed a collective sigh of relief, knowing that their charges were all intact.

John Schmitt

[Deville]

I'll bear that in mind.

The problem we've had with cork floors is that they don't wear very well.