Hello,

I'm looking for some guidance on floor covering for my en-suite. The
en-suite is upstairs so the base of the floor is waterproof plywood
over joists. The floor is fairly level but does slope away on one end
from about 50cm to the wall. As far as I can tell I have 3 options:
tile, vinyl or laminate.

My shower tray is embedded in about 30cm of cement as it is cast
stone, which means I'll either have to cover this somehow (any
suggestions would be welcome) or bring the level of the floor up to
meet it.

My preference would be tile as I like the finish however I've heard
various pros and cons on tiling on a wooden floating floor. What's
your advice?

Thanks very much

On 13/05/10 13:03, tvmo wrote:
Hello,

I'm looking for some guidance on floor covering for my en-suite. The
en-suite is upstairs so the base of the floor is waterproof plywood
over joists. The floor is fairly level but does slope away on one end
from about 50cm to the wall. As far as I can tell I have 3 options:
tile, vinyl or laminate.

My shower tray is embedded in about 30cm of cement as it is cast
stone, which means I'll either have to cover this somehow (any
suggestions would be welcome) or bring the level of the floor up to
meet it.

My preference would be tile as I like the finish however I've heard
various pros and cons on tiling on a wooden floating floor. What's
your advice?

Thanks very much

Tile - good, but ensure the subfloor isn't detectably bouncy and use a
class II flexible tile adhesive and flexible grout (BAL and Mapei both
do these and you can get ready mixed flexible in Tile Giant).

Laminate - noooooo! Too slippery IMO. Water ingress won't do it any good
- not sure I'd trust the so called kitchen grade stuff.

Vinyl - the ultimate good choice. Wears out, but inexpensive and
waterproof. Can look like tiles from a distance.

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

Thanks Tim.

Good advice. Where the floor slopes, can I bring the level up with
tile adhesive?

With regards to the vinyl, I've thought about this as the easiest
option, however how can I stop the gaps between the plywood showing
through the vinyl? In addition vinyl will still leave the cement that
supports my shower tray exposed. Is there anything that I can use to
cover the cement that doesn't stick out too much?

Thanks

On 13/05/10 13:39, tvmo wrote:
Thanks Tim.

Good advice. Where the floor slopes, can I bring the level up with
tile adhesive?

With regards to the vinyl, I've thought about this as the easiest
option, however how can I stop the gaps between the plywood showing
through the vinyl? In addition vinyl will still leave the cement that
supports my shower tray exposed. Is there anything that I can use to
cover the cement that doesn't stick out too much?

Thanks


I've seen a pro tiler do this for an extra 1/2". For that, he trowelled
some adhesive down in the low bit the day before and let it harden (in
your case to the level of the rest of the wood), then applied adhesive
normally when he tiled. There's probably no real limit to this, but
applying to much thickness in one go will probably lead to disaster if
it shrinks, not to mention trying to bed a tile in 3/4" of gunge and
keeping it where you want it.

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

tvmo wrote:
Thanks Tim.

Good advice. Where the floor slopes, can I bring the level up with
tile adhesive?

With regards to the vinyl, I've thought about this as the easiest
option, however how can I stop the gaps between the plywood showing
through the vinyl? In addition vinyl will still leave the cement that
supports my shower tray exposed. Is there anything that I can use to
cover the cement that doesn't stick out too much?

Thanks

Use self levelling compound (latex) to skim the floor. I have seen this
done in the school where I work (thin ply over rough floorboards and
then the compound) Years of heavy traffic later and no joins show.

This self levelling latex only copes with one or two mm difference but
there are variations which will fill deeper 'holes'. These are then
covered with a final latex layer .

Malcolm

On 13/05/10 15:25, Malcolm wrote:
tvmo wrote:
Thanks Tim.

Good advice. Where the floor slopes, can I bring the level up with
tile adhesive?

With regards to the vinyl, I've thought about this as the easiest
option, however how can I stop the gaps between the plywood showing
through the vinyl? In addition vinyl will still leave the cement that
supports my shower tray exposed. Is there anything that I can use to
cover the cement that doesn't stick out too much?

Thanks

Use self levelling compound (latex) to skim the floor. I have seen this
done in the school where I work (thin ply over rough floorboards and
then the compound) Years of heavy traffic later and no joins show.

This self levelling latex only copes with one or two mm difference but
there are variations which will fill deeper 'holes'. These are then
covered with a final latex layer .

Malcolm

Good idea - but I would, just to be safe, fine a product that is rated
for that. eg

http://www.f-ball.co.uk/product_deta...ID=smooth ing

Stopgap 700 Flex. I'd also make sure the ply edges are well screwed down.

Regarding the vinyl and join marks, the classic ways is to overcover
with hardboard, staggering the joins between it and the ply - normally
this is the method for dealing with floorboards. Do you really have that
many bad joins ion the ply?

But, as hardboard has no water resilience at all, I might overcover the
lot with the thinnest WBP ply available.

Photos might be handy at this point...

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

Thanks guys.

I've decided to go for a tiled floor covering.

The floor is more uneven than I thought, probably up to 5mm in some
areas. I'm going to level the floor using this:

http://www.wickes.co.uk/High-Perform...nd/invt/154134

After I've levelled with the compound in the link, what type of tile
adhesive should I use as I'll no longer be tiling directly on to
plywood?

BTW, how can I post a photo?

Thanks.

On 16/05/10 20:51, tvmo wrote:
Thanks guys.

I've decided to go for a tiled floor covering.

The floor is more uneven than I thought, probably up to 5mm in some
areas. I'm going to level the floor using this:

http://www.wickes.co.uk/High-Perform...nd/invt/154134

That looks the ticket. I would recommend you ensure the edges of the ply
are screwed down in addition to any nails just to be sure.

After I've levelled with the compound in the link, what type of tile
adhesive should I use as I'll no longer be tiling directly on to
plywood?

Hi,

You should still use flexible adhesive *and* grout. 5mm of levelling
compound will take out any slight flexing that may occur with ply.

BTW, how can I post a photo?

Pop it in flickr or one of the many other free photo sites and post a
link here. Love to see them


--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

On 16/05/10 21:43, Tim Watts wrote:
On 16/05/10 20:51, tvmo wrote:
Thanks guys.

I've decided to go for a tiled floor covering.

The floor is more uneven than I thought, probably up to 5mm in some
areas. I'm going to level the floor using this:

http://www.wickes.co.uk/High-Perform...nd/invt/154134

That looks the ticket. I would recommend you ensure the edges of the ply
are screwed down in addition to any nails just to be sure.

After I've levelled with the compound in the link, what type of tile
adhesive should I use as I'll no longer be tiling directly on to
plywood?

Hi,

You should still use flexible adhesive *and* grout. 5mm of levelling
compound will take out any slight flexing that may occur with ply.

^^^ not

BTW, how can I post a photo?

Pop it in flickr or one of the many other free photo sites and post a
link here. Love to see them




--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.