About to put down 1/2 inch stone on kitchen floor. Would the best
way be just like tile and use thin set or go with the wire mesh they
use on outside walls for stone facings? Mortor doesn't seem
to stick to plywood very well. The kitchen floor is 3/4 plywood. The
stone are very flat.

Thanks

Paul

AskMeNot wrote:
About to put down 1/2 inch stone on kitchen floor. Would the best
way be just like tile and use thin set or go with the wire mesh they
use on outside walls for stone facings? Mortor doesn't seem
to stick to plywood very well. The kitchen floor is 3/4 plywood. The
stone are very flat.

Thanks

Paul


Paul,

You should at the very least install a 1/2" backerboard, and depending
upon how the floor is built, possibly a 3/4"+ mortar bed base. Look for
a minimum 1-1/4" base over a properly constructed subfloor for your
stone or tile.

I dought 3/4 ply is solid enough to have no flex, flex and you can
crack. Concrete board would be a fix and a good mortar bond.

AskMeNot wrote:
About to put down 1/2 inch stone on kitchen floor. Would the best
way be just like tile and use thin set or go with the wire mesh they
use on outside walls for stone facings? Mortor doesn't seem
to stick to plywood very well. The kitchen floor is 3/4 plywood. The
stone are very flat.

Who's doing the work? A tile guy might want to go with a mud job (wire
lath and mortar) or cement backer board (Durock, Wonderboard, etc.).
Both are fine installations if done correctly. If you're doing the
work, the backer board is an easier way to go. I always recommend
bonding the backer board to the plywood with thinset, as well as using
screws or roofing nails. It makes the subfloor monolithic (act as one
thicker layer) and stronger. Then your tile/stone can be set with
thinset. Latex-modified thinset has more flex, as does latex-modified
grout, and the LM grout will be less prone to staining.

R

All those answers sound pretty good. The one question left would be
if the base floor is built with backerboard and morter base this will
raise the floor considerably higher than the 3/4" wood floor that is
adjacent to the kitchen floor. Would I use some kind of sloped
edging down to the wood floor? The wood floor has not been installed
as of yet. THe kitchen floor goes in first..or at least that was
the plan.

Many thanks!!

Paul

RicodJour wrote:
AskMeNot wrote:

About to put down 1/2 inch stone on kitchen floor. Would the best
way be just like tile and use thin set or go with the wire mesh they
use on outside walls for stone facings? Mortor doesn't seem
to stick to plywood very well. The kitchen floor is 3/4 plywood. The
stone are very flat.


Who's doing the work? A tile guy might want to go with a mud job (wire
lath and mortar) or cement backer board (Durock, Wonderboard, etc.).
Both are fine installations if done correctly. If you're doing the
work, the backer board is an easier way to go. I always recommend
bonding the backer board to the plywood with thinset, as well as using
screws or roofing nails. It makes the subfloor monolithic (act as one
thicker layer) and stronger. Then your tile/stone can be set with
thinset. Latex-modified thinset has more flex, as does latex-modified
grout, and the LM grout will be less prone to staining.

R

AskMeNot wrote:
All those answers sound pretty good. The one question left would be
if the base floor is built with backerboard and morter base this will
raise the floor considerably higher than the 3/4" wood floor that is
adjacent to the kitchen floor. Would I use some kind of sloped
edging down to the wood floor? The wood floor has not been installed
as of yet. THe kitchen floor goes in first..or at least that was
the plan.

Just pretty good? Sheesh. Tough crowd.

You could use a reducing strip at the transition as you mention, or you
could use underlayment plywood under the wood floor to build it up.
The transition strip is far cheaper, but is a little kludgy otherwise.

R