tiles

[Ring]

Evening all, i made the mistake of taking the missus to the new Wickes store and she has decided that she wants tiles down on the kitchen floor,the problem is i have a t&g Weyroc floor , what would i need to do to the floor to make is stable to take tiles ?any advice please ;-)

Jim

 

[9fingers]

Try and change her mind!!
Tell her tiles will be hard to stand on when doing all the cooking and ironing and make her legs (and your ears ache!!) Also any spills could stain the grouting.

If this does not work then you are in for a lot of work.
I did a bathroom successfully but the floor must be really rigid.

I'm assuming you cannot tolerate the floor level being raised.

Take up the floor back to the joists. Screw and glue battens onto each face of the joists 18mm down from the top edge. Insert 18mm plywood in between the joists. Glue and screw into the battens. Cover the whole floor with 9mm plywood. Glue this down - loads of PVA glue and screw all over on 200mm centres. let this dry thoroughly.

You should notice how rigid the floor has become and will be quite 'dead' to walk on

Fix tiles with BAL FLEXIBLE adhesive. There are other brands but this is the best one. Grout with BAL flexible grout. This is available from specialist tile sellers - I did not find it in the DIY sheds - it is a professional product.

If your tiles are anything like mine, the adhesive costs more than the tiles!!

With the 9mm ply plus adhesive plus tiles you should be back near the original floor level if not adjust the ply thickness.

You might want to consider insulation under the floor and under floor heating. I have this in the bathroom which works very well. The tiles dont feel warm, just not as cold as they would feel if unheated.


Good Luck

Bob

 

[Jake]

I'd just add a layer of aquapanel, bedding it on flexible tile cement, and screwing into to the joists every 150 or so once it's gone off. Then use a proper cement-based flexible tile adhesive (eg BAL, Ardex, Nicobond etc) not one of the ready-mix glues - these aren't particularly cheap, but it ain't that much in comparison with a failure.

Either seal the grout, or use epoxy (don't listen to whinging pros who say epoxy is impossible, it's just a bit irritatingly sticky and slower, but perfectly easy to use).

Tile is a fantastically practical surface in a kitchen - unlike wood or stone, it won't stain, and you can mop it and it won't rot. And it isn't plasticky vinyl.

 

[Karl]

I would just add that if you are going to buy all this material, open a trade account at Topps Tiles (or similair) - the retail prices for this stuff is stupid.

The flexi adhesive I use (20kg bag) is £80 retail, £35 trade.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Ring]

tnx for info guys will give this a lot of thought :shock: