DIY ensuite bathroom replacement - build log

This week/end I've prepared the floor (primed), laid, relaid, and mucked around with UFH, and laid self-levelling compound. I used Ultra Tilefix's two-part SLC for this, which seems pretty good. Easy to mix and good flow, as you'd expect I guess so proof will be in lack of floor / floor tiles cracking!

Quite a few detailed photos below:

Using expanding foam to block any gaps to stop the SLC flowing where it's not meant to

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Channels in the boards for the sensor conduit and cold tail joint to sit in

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Power and sensor wires fished back up to the backbox

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More holes filled with foam, and I used a hot glue gun to stick the cable down rather than tape, which worked much better and minimises potential issues with the tape adhering to the SLC

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SLC laid, wet

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SLC now OK for light foot traffic after a few hours

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I have a slight problem with my tiles / tiling layout.

My plan was to line up the floor tile grout lines with the wall grout lines so there's a single line at each joint as they're both 600mm wide, or were meant to be. For some reason the floor tiles I've received are only 598mm wide, meaning I think I'm going to have an issue doing this.

I could either ditch the alignment entirely, use 3mm grout joints on the floor which I think should make the centre of the grout lines line up all the way along, just send it and hope it's not obvious, or 4thly attempt to moan to Tile Mountain - problem is they're exactly what we want otherwise. The gap would be most visible right in front when you enter the room, so I could line it up here and hope it's OK.

Edit: seems people think 2mm on a floor is a bit skinny anyway, so if I use 4mm spacers instead and 2mm on the wall I should only get 2mm deflection across the whole wall, i.e. for all intents and purposes invisible. Sound reasonable?
 
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I actually think if I centre the tiles in the centre of the wall, the biggest discrepancy will be only 5mm to either side of centre, which with colour-matched grout will probably be hard to notice in a finished room especially with the shower tray breaking things up on the left and the toilet and cabinet on the right.

I'm really keen on 2mm grout lines where possible.
 
Normally you would centre the window or the flush plates. Grout lines over those can look odd. Setting out always the hardest part, looks good though.

On the 600mm tiles, usually they are quoted +/- 2mm.
 
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SLC primed (twice) per Instarmac's technical support and setting out has started.

I'm going to (unusually) tile the whole floor first and protect it when doing the walls, because I want to line up the grout joints and this is the only real to do that in a room that isn't perfectly square.

I think everything should line up OK with nice big cuts top and bottom; the niche height vs. the flush plate / shelf might be an issue, but I don't think I'll be forced into any really small cuts if I'm careful.

Speaking of cutting, lots of grinder batteries are charged and a sexy brand new Montolit Masterpiuma 63P5 is ready to go. Better be better than the last junk tile cutter I got from Screwfix, which fractured everything and went straight back.

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Nowt wrong with doing the floor first. Could tape some antinox protection boards on it once done, that's what I did.

Im not that bothered about lining up floor / wall joints but if it works for your layout then that's good.

Looks like a lot of good prep but your SLC a bit thin (can see cables in one part) . Regardless a decent sized trowel will get over it.
 
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Buffman said:
You don't need to insulate better if it's between rooms. If it's for acoustics rockwool sound insulation will perform minorly better acoustically but you may be unable to tell the difference.
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It can be useful if you want to isolate heat between rooms on the same floor I'd have thought. If you get a smart heating system then it can help keep the heat in the areas you want to be warm. I guess if the bathroom is a main one then you'd want it to be warm always so it might not matter in this instance.
 
Blimey thats an expensive tile cutter! You got a lot more tiling to do? 60cm tiles? IMO the gear for tiling goes up exponentially vs the size of the tiles your cutting.
When I was last tiling I was using 60x10cm plank effect tiles so a cheap snapper was fine for the cross cuts.
The length cuts I just did with my £50 wet diamond tile cutter. It was only a few meters worth.

100% agree with the dry cutting/laying approach. I did this and found it easier. Then just wack a load of adhesive down and lay tiles, more adhesive, more tiles etc until done.

All looking good, bet your chuffed :)
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Blimey thats an expensive tile cutter! You got a lot more tiling to do? 60cm tiles? IMO the gear for tiling goes up exponentially vs the size of the tiles your cutting.
When I was last tiling I was using 60x10cm plank effect tiles so a cheap snapper was fine for the cross cuts.
The length cuts I just did with my £50 wet diamond tile cutter. It was only a few meters worth.

100% agree with the dry cutting/laying approach. I did this and found it easier. Then just wack a load of adhesive down and lay tiles, more adhesive, more tiles etc until done.

All looking good, bet your chuffed :)
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Yes it was £300 delivered from N&C Tiles & Bathrooms, so not cheap.

I have another bathroom to do in my house at some point (probably with 600 x something tiles) so will do that then sell it second hand, maybe for £150? Or I might just keep it for future jobs like porch, hallway, kitchen back splash, whatever.

I just had such a bad experience doing my downstairs loo with a Vitrex 900 from Amazon that I decided to splooge on a decent one this time and so far, I'm glad I did (even if my wallet isn't).

@Mercenary Keyboard Warrior By the way yes they're 600 x 600 tiles, or advertised as such anyway. In fact they're 598 x 598, so I'm using a 3mm grout joint on the floor vs. 2mm on the walls. I gather 3mm is considered minimum for applications where the subfloor is wood anyway.
 
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We did the same for a laminate cutter - £180, but zero saw dust for simple length cuts (anything intricate needed the jigsaw anyway). For getting 90% of the flooring down so we could just move in, it was a godsend.

I've lent it out several times and it still cuts/snaps just as cleanly as I the day I got it.
 
Hi all. If I centre my tiles to the room and window, the left hand grout line will be slightly to the left of the centre of the WC flush plate. Do you think this will look bad / like a mistake?

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The other option is to centre the grout line to the flush but then the tiles will obviously be off centre to the wall and window.
 
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