On Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:39:32 -0500, nb wrote:

On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 13:00:36 -0400, Tony
wrote:

I am about to tile my 5x8 bathroom floor. I am using Hardibacker board. Right now, I have a plywood
floor that I am going to thinset and screw the hardibacker to. I laid a 4' level across the floor.
In the middle of the floor (horizontally), if I press the level down on the right side of the 5'
wide floor), the left side is up at least 1/4" and almost 1/2" at one point. While I have no real
problem if the floor is slightly off level on the whole, I do not like this small buldge that seems
to be in the middle of the floor. I tool a smaller 1' level and laid it all over the floor and it
slightly rocks back and forth. If the level does this, the tile will do this too.

Will the thinset under the hardibacker board level this out? What is the best way to level this
floor?

Tony

We had our bathroom floor retiled last year. Though we're pretty handy
around the house -- for example, we did 90% of our kitchen renovation
-- we hired someone to do it.

We realized quickly that if we did it, it would cost more to fix our
mistakes than to simply pay someone to do it right the first time.

Tile isn't easy to fix, especially if there are already some problems
with the floor.

--Nan

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions. In the end, I spoke to my friend (a builder) and he
gave me the phone number of a tile guy he swears by. For $2000, he will mud and tile the entire
bathroom, not matter what patterns or sized tile I want to use. He said he takes so much pride in
his work that he will not tile over walls that arent plumb and will make them if needed. He also
bevels tile instead of using bullnose, etc. So, even though I could use the money, I think that it
will be wisely spent by getting a professional. I know if I do it myself, I am going to run into
problems like the walls not being plumb and all that. This will add a few years of life .

Thanks again, I have saved all of these posts in case I ever decide to re-do my smaller bathroom in
the basement (sink, toilet shower - no bathtub).

Tony