How difficult is tiling a floor?

psd99

psd99

psd99

Soldato
Joined
7 Sep 2008
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Hi, I have put shelves up, extended lighting circuits, painted for over 500 hours, installed taps, installed sockets, drilled over 200 holes in various materials yet never have I attempted tiling.

It is for a bathroom floor, got this rubbish white laminate flooring there and it is difficult to keep clean

I was considering to rip it all out and put some decent tiles down
Any hints or tips on this? Is there something I need to put down on the floor underneath the tiles? Typical Floorboards under there
 
Some predicaments I forgot to mention are:

- the toilet
- the sink


Likely they need to be removed
The sink is ok but the toilet is crap
Might be a good time to change that over as it is only a 6 litre cistern and it has a slight leak under the waste pipe
They did such a crap job i will
Need to fix this alll up with the right connectors etc. man these builders took short cuts, the top half of my external waste is still metal the bottom is now plastic. Prob should replace it all

Think I could prob sort that out myself but i dont want to mess about with the sink too much
 
I had similar DIY experience and was apprehensive about tiling my floor. It turned out to be just as straight forward as any other job though. I used plywood as the base, but I believe building regs prefers sheet rock stuff now. A good even bit of muck on the bottom and it has stood the test to toilets, sink unit, day to day wear and even a **** of a roofer who threw a massive gas bottle on it for his torch.
 
Easy enough, just take your time and starting with as level as possible base makes it much easier.
 
Don't tile straight onto ply, only bodgers do that these days.

Overboard the current floorboards with 6mm hardibacker and tile onto that. Make sure the subfloor is level and doesn't move, it's all in the prep here.
 
I tiled a kitchen floor through into the hallway and it was very easy. I have an electric tile cutter which makes all the difference. Tiling onto floorboards is much trickier though. As others have said, you need to make a firm base to work on. Previous owners of our house have blatantly tiled straight onto the floorboards as all the tiles are loose and move when you step on them. I'm going to have to pull them all up at some point :(
 
thanks hardibacker
Dont know what is is
But i was sure i need something otherwise them tiles will move for sur
 
I'm not wanting to put you off but tiling a bathroom, particularly onto floorboards is one of the more demanding tiling jobs you can undertake. You have to do it right otherwise it will just crack and fail. You also need to consider that you'll be raising the floor considerably and the impact that will have on your existing bathroom furniture, it may not line up with the pipes anymore. You are looking 6mm for tileboards plus 2-4mm for adhesive, plus 8mm+ for tiles.

I'd suggest using another type of floor that is far easier to fit if this is your first time out tiling. By contrast, LVT is a walk in the park.
 
I used luxury vinyl click together planks at my previous house. Super easy to fit, waterproof, durable and flex with the floorboards. Will probably use them again at the new house for the bathroom.
 
Having attempted tiling onto a wooden floor, I wouldn't do it again. Any movement in the floor and it'll just crack. Plus it just felt cold underfoot.

I've recently used good quality lino (not the stuff you see in home bargains!) And achieved much nicer results.

Take a look at these

Vinyl Flooring | Free Samples Available | Flooring Direct | Order Here

Flooring Direct offers a vast range of modern and stylish vinyl flooring which is perfect for your home. Free samples of vinyl floors here.
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Valid points and it is the height of the floor that does worry me
Last thing id want is a step up on to the bathroom floor

I was just considering this
The current floor is basically water proof laminate flooring but a PITA to clean, the toilet is an annoying 6 litre cistern that you gotta flash twice to clear the logs lol

Plus the downpipe outside is cast iron upwards and plastic downwards
I was thinking about replacing all of these things but it is not immediate rush
 
In our bathroom renovation I replaced the old creaky floorboards with 18mm ply. Sealed, primed and poured SLC. Fracture membrane then tiled. Still loooks great.
 
How does one know which mm ply to use, and is this the plaster board?

www.selcobw.com

Hardie® Backer Tile Backerboard 1200 x 800 x 6mm

Buy Hardie® Backer Tile Backerboard 1200 x 800 x 6mm at trade exclusive prices. Shop online with Click & Collect and next day delivery available.
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I think my other bathroom (which is still a pretty decent finish) has floorboards and then some type of plaster board like above
I dont remember a ply being applied but guess it can only help me.
 
psd99 said:
How does one know which mm ply to use, and is this the plaster board?

www.selcobw.com

Hardie® Backer Tile Backerboard 1200 x 800 x 6mm

Buy Hardie® Backer Tile Backerboard 1200 x 800 x 6mm at trade exclusive prices. Shop online with Click & Collect and next day delivery available.
www.selcobw.com www.selcobw.com

I think my other bathroom (which is still a pretty decent finish) has floorboards and then some type of plaster board like above
I dont remember a ply being applied but guess it can only help me.
Click to expand...

The subfloor question isnt quite that simple. There is no 'minimum' thickness per se. Its all about how stiff your floor is and deflection values. This will all be affected by the distance on centre of your joists, iverall building construction etc.

The answer also deoends in the format of tile you want to lay, size, thickness etc. Smaller tiles will be more forgiving whereas large format thick tiles can be more susceptible to cracking.

If you want a general 'idea' then at the very minimum you would likely want 18mm+ ply as a subfloor topped with your backing board. Youve linked 6mm boards but you could probably go thicker. You might instead consider Ditra Matting as an additonal measure against movement and fractures.
 
Sin_Chase said:
The subfloor question isnt quite that simple. There is no 'minimum' thickness per se. Its all about how stiff your floor is and deflection values. This will all be affected by the distance on centre of your joists, iverall building construction etc.

The answer also deoends in the format of tile you want to lay, size, thickness etc. Smaller tiles will be more forgiving whereas large format thick tiles can be more susceptible to cracking.

If you want a general 'idea' then at the very minimum you would likely want 18mm+ ply as a subfloor topped with your backing board. Youve linked 6mm boards but you could probably go thicker. You might instead consider Ditra Matting as an additonal measure against movement and fractures.
Click to expand...

Obviously not your fault, but this whole thing is winding me up. Our new build house has posh laminate in the upstairs bathrooms. I want tiles. I don't like laminate. But it's so thin that if we did put in tiles, it would be raised a couple of cm, as you say, from the carpet on the landing. Is this normal? I don't understand why they wouldn't have made provision for this. Or is it a case of putting something under your carpet to raise it up??
 
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