Tiling upstairs on ply

Manuel

Hi,
Need help please. Had a tiler over. He looked at the upstairs floor and asked what was it. "Plywood on joists" says I. "Builder's ply?" says he. Then comes my standard reply when asked something important: "Uhh ... dunno ...".

Anyway, he tells me to put down 3/8" Marine Ply WBP on top of it. Grand, says I. I get on to the builder. He says that what's down is WBP (but not Marine Ply). So anyway I take out the Building Spec and all it says is "First floor to be finished with 8' * 4' * 3/4" plywood".

So is that sufficient to go ahead and start tiling on (once it's dried)? Should tiler be satisfied with this? He's a bit particular, which to me is a good thing.

Anyway, all advice welcome.
Thanks!
/M.

rooferPete

Hi,

This thread might give you the info you need,

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054879253

.

seansean

Manual,

Firstly its not a good job tiling upstairs when there is wooden floors involved regardless of what ply is down, it would be grand if it was concrete. If you must go ahead find out were the joists are exactly and screw down the ply that you have on it is fine. When i say screw down i mean screw down, use a screw gun or electric drill with screws every 4 inches, make sure the screws go below the surface. The more screws the tighter the ply will be, the less movement the less chance of cracking in the tiles or grout. As well as the screwing get him to use flexi or evo bond a milk like liquid can be painted onto the wood and gives tile adhesive more grip. You really need them screws though and you will really never be 100% there will always be a chance of cracks with settlement etc best of luck

rooferPete

Hi Manuel,

With respect to seansean, the reason for fitting the 3/8 wbp ply wood over the existing is to allow the main floor to expand / contract and if new settle without transferring the effects of any movement to the tile adhesive or maybe even cracking tiles along the joints in the main timber.

To apply the number of screws suggested I recommend that you make sure the screws are just long enough to fix the plywood, but make sure there are no pipes or electric wires in that area.

When fitting the 3/8 ply it is usually fixed with short nails and the joints are not in line with the existing sheets (breaking the joints).

.

Rusty Knight

That ply is perfect for the jpb.......your guy IS very particular, but there is absolutley no need for marine ply, the ordinary stuff is grand.

Roofer Pete knows his onions too......that's good advice!

girseach

hi
Would you consider using quick step tiles

www.quick-step.com/range.aspx?typeq=TIB&typeq2=TIG&id=1&sound=N

We have wooden floorboards both upstairs and downstairs in our house and we installed the Quadra tiles in our kitchen lats year as I just couldn't face messing about with ply-wood etc. We have them down 18 months now and couldn't fault them. When we start renovating our bathroom in a couple of months we intend putting them down there as well.

Just another option

chuckles30

girsearch, I'm interested in these tiles you mention. Having used them, is it possible to lay them yourself? Is it really a diy job? I'm in the process of buying a new house at the moment so I'm looking at all my options. As I'm on a budget, anything I can do to keep my costs down is an option. If I can do them myself, I can do it room by room whereas if I was getting a tiler in, I'd probably have to get in all done together.

girseach

chuckles30 wrote:

girsearch, I'm interested in these tiles you mention. Having used them, is it possible to lay them yourself? Is it really a diy job? I'm in the process of buying a new house at the moment so I'm looking at all my options. As I'm on a budget, anything I can do to keep my costs down is an option. If I can do them myself, I can do it room by room whereas if I was getting a tiler in, I'd probably have to get in all done together.

Hi Chuckles30

We had a typical 3 bed semi, and wanted to give a feeling of open plan when putting the flooring in downstairs so we used the quickstep beech flooring from the hall, through the sitting room and into the dining section of our kitchen/diner. We put the quickstep tiling in the kitchen area of the kitchen/diner. It was easy enough to lay it so if you are used to doing DIY to should be fine laying it yourself. We put the thicker underlay under it to help with insulation and noise. Price around we got ours up the north and saved about €300.

chuckles30

Thanks for the info - I'm still considering all my options at the moment, and this is another one to add to my list.

Muckmagnet

Dont use marine ply . its for constant exposure to water/moisture , normally used in boats (marine). Its mad expensive , from memory about €60/70 , i used to sell ply until last year and the vast majority of tilers bought WBP off me .