Floor Tiling

joelk2 · 2 Mar 2016 at 08:47

Ive tiled many many walls but soon about to embark on my first floor.

ive got a couple of questions though.

the floor is made of 90% floorboards and 10% concrete, there is a 10cm step down into a kardean area and the other side is a victorian tiled hallway.

hopefully my picture shows what i mean

now i understand i need to put a ply base down (or cement board base) and screw this down to the joists.

the real questions are how do i finish the edges? to i tile right up to the skirting board?

also the edge of the step part i wanted to tile the front edge of the step also but what would i put on the corner?

next is the connection to the victorian tiled hallway (its not the full width there is only a door in the middle) but i need another edging strip there i assume?

Kimi · 2 Mar 2016 at 10:47

Just done mine over floor boards, i used no more ply cement boards with quartz tiles on top, they were great to work with and seem to be working well.

Personally id have the skirting board off them tile to wall with gap, drop skirting over tiles, alternatively if you dont want to take the skirting off i would get it close to the boards and then run a small bead of silicone that matches the the colour of the grout you use. Mapei do a great range of matching silicone and grout.

With the corner or step i would use a flat tile edging strip. You could have it either facing up or out then.

joelk2 · 2 Mar 2016 at 11:01

Kimi said:
Just done mine over floor boards, i used no more ply cement boards with quartz tiles on top, they were great to work with and seem to be working well.

Personally id have the skirting board off them tile to wall with gap, drop skirting over tiles, alternatively if you dont want to take the skirting off i would get it close to the boards and then run a small bead of silicone that matches the the colour of the grout you use. Mapei do a great range of matching silicone and grout.

With the corner or step i would use a flat tile edging strip. You could have it either facing up or out then.

ive just seen no more ply. seems to be a little cheaper than hardiebacker but also a little smaller in size.

did you use tile adhesive on your floorboards before the NMP? did you prime on top with anything?

Lt_Red · 2 Mar 2016 at 11:25

Definately take the skirting boards off and tile up to the wall. The skirting will trim the edges and you dont have to be so precise. It'll just look better.

I would be careful with a tile edging strip on an step edge it'll get ruined pretty quickly. Perhaps a step nose edging like this kinda thing: http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/wood-stair-nosing

Kimi · 2 Mar 2016 at 11:44

joelk2 said:
ive just seen no more ply. seems to be a little cheaper than hardiebacker but also a little smaller in size.

did you use tile adhesive on your floorboards before the NMP? did you prime on top with anything?

I used SBR tiling primer on top of the no more ply, i used no more plys "Mega Strength Adhesive" & 8 screws per board to sick the no more ply boards to the floorboards. You run 2 beads of adhesive on the underside of the board then stick it down, then a small bead to join board edge to board edge. The adhesive is amazing, it foams up then sets like a plastic/resin. I thought id see how strong it was and stuck some plastic to metal as an experiment. Works great!

If you go to Tile Giant you can pick up a brochure that has a guide to the system. Off the top of my head i think you'll need to prime the concrete bit of that room.

darreny · 2 Mar 2016 at 21:28

If you don't want to take the skirting off use a silicone sealant same or similar colour to grout to fill the gap

Participant · 3 Mar 2016 at 06:13

Take the skirting off if you want it to look the best it can. Skirting is hardly expensive or hard to fit.

a1ex2001 · 3 Mar 2016 at 09:39

Participant said:
Take the skirting off if you want it to look the best it can. Skirting is hardly expensive or hard to fit.

depends if you have a Victorian house with 12" skirting in a moulding that isn't made anymore or not! Skirting is easy in a modern house but ripping it off in older properties is a nightmare as invariably there is no plaster behind it and the walls crack giving you a major piece of work to do afterwards!

joelk2 · 3 Mar 2016 at 10:30

a1ex2001 said:
depends if you have a Victorian house with 12" skirting in a moulding that isn't made anymore or not! Skirting is easy in a modern house but ripping it off in older properties is a nightmare as invariably there is no plaster behind it and the walls crack giving you a major piece of work to do afterwards!

this.

it is a victorian property, the skirting in that room isnt of a vicotrian era though but ive pulled off this skirting in other rooms during the refurb and it is a right pain.

when i do it i will leave the skirting in place ive decided.

its going to cost a lot more than i originally intended (didnt quite realise the price of ply) and its £30 difference between ply and cement board that id need.

3m x 3m room seems to be £100 in ply or £130 in cement board (plus the cement board fits in my car)

boxman2000 · 3 Mar 2016 at 10:47

All about the preparation - I had my lounge done in a rush and wasn't prepared properly (was getting hall done and last minute decided to run tiles into lounge as well) 5 years on and there are a few cracked tiles here and there and cracks in a section of grout.