"Scott" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 29 Jan 2019 17:39:36 +0000, Chris Hogg wrote:

On Tue, 29 Jan 2019 15:39:45 +0000, Scott
wrote:

On Tue, 29 Jan 2019 12:44:22 +0000, newshound
wrote:

On 29/01/2019 12:08, Scott wrote:
Hi folks, just a quick question. I am planning to put two tiles on
the floor to level the washing machine. I have found two wall tiles.
Can I use them or are wall tiles not as strong as floor tiles?

All depends on the tile. The standard thin wall tiles are not very
strong in bending, but I'd expect them to be OK in that sort of
application. Doesn't the washing machine have adustable feet, though?
They are sometimes not so obvious on modern machines.

1. The tiles I found are the same thickness as the floor tiles. Is it
only thickness that counts, no difference in composition? 2. The
plumber says the altitude difference is too much for the feet and
levelling the floor would be recommended. 3. I am thinking about
putting some vinyl under the feet as well for cushioning. Is this
sensible?

Wall tiles have a quiet, fairly stress-free life, whereas floor tiles
have to cope with people and things trundling over them. Wall tiles
generally have a different composition and are not fired to such a
high temperature as floor tiles. Wall tiles tend to be quite porous,
which contributes to their lack of strength, but most floor tiles are
much denser, and stronger as a result. Certainly, you can increase the
strength of a tile by increasing its thickness, but thickness for
thickness, floor tiles will generally be stronger. You could pop round
to your local tile shop and ask if they've got any off-cuts of
porcelain tiles in their skip.

A bit of vinyl under the feet of the washing machine will spread the
stress a bit and make it less likely that the tiles will break. In
fact vinyl above and between the two tiles and below the lower tile
would all help to reduce stress concentrations and make the tiles less
likely to fracture, but that may make for too much thickness.

But bear in mind that when the washing machine goes into its spin
cycle and starts to thrash about, the stresses on the feet and
anything they stand on, will be significant.

Thanks. It sounds like using wall tiles would be asking for trouble.
As a supplementary, is there any need to use tiles at all, or would a
suitably sized piece of wood be just as good?

Yeah, it will work fine.