Plywood flooring

Just idly wondering really, but this occurred to me, so I though it was worth asking.

When I do the bathroom, I'll probably replace the rather old floorboards with 18mm ply (they'll all have to come up anyway to deal with a few dodgy joists so why not end up with a nice flat floor?).

In my experience, the thickness of ply is 'nominal', ie each sheet is a bit different. My instinct would be to cut the sheets to ensure that joins fall on a joist (or niggin) but this will, of course, show any difference in thickness. I haven't really settled on the floor finish yet, but it's likely that it won't be tiles (to avoid the pain of problems with tiles over timber floors), so this would be an issue if it's thin enough.

Two solutions come to mind: Either biscuit joint the ply edges and somehow 'shim' the joist under the thinner one or sand off the difference to 'lose' it over a few inches. Is there a preferred way of dealing with this?

Of course it's inevitable that a bathroom floor will see some water and even exterior ply won't like that too much. Is there any point in sealing the top face (and maybe the edges) with something before putting the finish down?

Reply to
GMM
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In message , GMM writes

Can't say I've noticed this, it all seems sized consistently to me.

However, if you are concerned, going to the shed/timber merchants and choosing the sheets carefully would seem the obvious answer.

I've got untreated exterior ply outside that's been there for some years and it's till fine. If you have enough water sloshing around the bathroom to cause it a problem then I think you will have other things to worry about.

It might need priming/sealing with something depending on what flooring you put down though

Reply to
Chris French

Using plywood is pointless. Moisture resisting tongue & groove chipboard is avaialble. (Coloured green for identification) It comes in boards about 1200mm X 300mm There is almost zero waste. Joints have to be PVA glued. Very quick to install too. Just nailed down. (Nails need to be punched in if plastic flooring used.)

The finish should make it even more moisture resistant. If carpet, paint the chipboard before laying carpet.

Reply to
harryagain

Using the chipboard there are no concerns about noggins/unsupported joints as they are T&G and glued.

Reply to
harryagain

IME while ply thickness is nominal - and you can't assume that one sheet will match another from a different supplier, there is normally very good consistency in sheets from one source.

Use WBP ply and there is unlikely to be any problem with small amounts of water.

Reply to
John Rumm

In message , at 08:09:15 on Mon, 9 Feb

2015, harryagain remarked:

And after a few years the nails will squeek when you walk over. Needs to be screwed.

Reply to
Roland Perry

But dont use the garbage sold as WBP that has no water resistance.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

When we had our bathroom tiled, the fitters laid 12mm ply on top of the existing (1") floorboards (for additional rigidity). They said that if we removed the floorboards, they'd probably use 25mm ply.

You might want to consider thicker boards.

Reply to
Martin Bonner

I used marine ply around the shower (not sure if that's the same as WBP - it was 3 times the price of the standard ply).

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

In message , Andrew Gabriel writes

No, it's not the same thing.

WBP often seems to be the standard ply sold nowadays

Reply to
Chris French

Marine is a WBP that is rated for continuous immersion, and also will have no voids in it. Proper WBP is adequate for most exterior and "wet" applications short of boat building.

Having said that there are different grades of WBP. Technically speaking shuttering ply is also WBP, but its of far lower quality than hardwood faced WBP.

Reply to
John Rumm

Never tried shuttering under tiles but I expect it would be ok.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Maybe that's why I got that impression - mixing different sources. Perhaps I'll sneak through the pile at the BM with a caliper and see what the variation is. It wouldn't take much of a difference to show a small 'step' if overlaid with something like a vinyl and would be likely to wear at the ridge formed.

All a little hypothetical until the current job is finished of course, but it never hurts to plan for these things.

Reply to
GMM

a smear of woodfiller would sort it

NT

Reply to
meow2222

With some the top surface will de-laminate too easily to make the tiles sound.

Reply to
John Rumm

Just curious as to why this should be done? I havent painted any of the chipboard floors in my house before laying carpet.

Alan

Reply to
AlanC

Glue-on carpet?

Reply to
Martin Bonner

No need, carpet will glue fine to raw chip

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

On Mon, 09 Feb 2015 21:32:42 +0000, GMM wrote: snip

i work in office fit outs and have fitted many plywood floors .my experience is that 18mm ply is always 18mm (i dont use a micrometer) which is irrelevant really since the floor layers use latex across all the joins when the finish is vinyl

hth

steve

Reply to
steve.n

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