Thinking of tiling bathroom

chris85

I am thinking about tiling my bathroom. I have all the tiles and am just seeing if it is that hard to do. I am pretty handy with this kinda stuff so would like to give it a go. Its been done a floor boards so just looking for some advice on what i need and stuff like that??

I would get someone to do it but have had few people doing work on the house and no one has been reliable so would prefer to do it myself.

Cheers

the hunter

sometimes the tiles crack when putting them straight onto floor boards so if you can put a sheet of board onto the floorboards first ?

wasim21k

have look here
all you need is here.
http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/tiling/index.htm

Fr Dougal

the hunter wrote:

sometimes the tiles crack when putting them straight onto floor boards so if you can put a sheet of board onto the floorboards first ?

Take heed of the hunters advice.

You need to put down a sheet of plywood first, preferably 9mm Marine ply from your local builders providers. Then screw it to the floor every 6-8 inches (don't nail it.) then tile directly onto the plywood. What it costs in plywood/screws, you'll more than save on adhesive and time. The only problem, you might have a bit of work to finish neatly at the door. You may also have to plane a few mm off the bottom of the door to clear the new tiles. Are you removing the bathroom suite before doing it? A good idea if you can.

chris85

was going to put plywood down of course. Especially since there are small gaps between each floor board and the adhesive would get through the gaps and dont want that.

Mainly seeing if you need a lot of experience to do it or can it be done if you are handy enough and prepare well for it.

northdublin

screwing the ply into the floor board is not much use, you have to screw trough the ply then through the floor board and into the joist. then use specific tile adheasive for wooden surfaces its more flexable then the one used on concrete floors. most of the flexable adheasives double as grout so this will ensure that as the room and the wooden floor heats up and cools down (expands/contracts) it shouldnt crack the grout or loosen the tiles.

Gurgle

chris85 wrote:

Mainly seeing if you need a lot of experience to do it or can it be done if you are handy enough and prepare well for it.

Nah, its handy enough.

Recommend you take the toilet and sink pedestal out to tile under rather than around them.

Leave a gap of ~10mm all around the plywood, fill this with the flexible adhesive.

Screwing the plywood onto the floorboards is fine, just make sure you use 25mm or 30mm screws that won't go through the boards and potentially into plumbing/electrical underneath. Also make sure the screw heads are well buried into the plywood, don't want any risk of a tile sitting on a screw head.

chris85

yeah gonna take the toilet out. Easier that way. Prob gonna rent a wet saw for the day or may buy one if they aint too expensive. gotta check that out.

Cheers for the info guys, much appreciated. IF you think there is anything else i need to know let me know.

Cheers

chris85

Gonna get started on it next week or two. Also going to make a timber frame for the bath and tile the side of it over plywood panels.

Ive estimated about 200euro to get the equipment and materials needed to tile the bathroom (have the tiles already). This includes buying a diamond blade tile cutter and the wood for the frame and all the other stuff (adhesive, grout, plywood etc). Does that sound bout right???

I'm looking forward to seeing the result.

Fr Dougal

chris85 wrote:

yeah gonna take the toilet out. Easier that way. Prob gonna rent a wet saw for the day or may buy one if they aint too expensive. gotta check that out.

Cheers for the info guys, much appreciated. IF you think there is anything else i need to know let me know.

Cheers

It's not too difficult to do. Ideally I prefer using a standard tile cutter for straight lines, not a wet saw, a much cleaner, quicker and easier job. You only have to contour around pipes, door saddle or bathroom fittings etc so a diamond tipped disc for an angle grinder would be much better and neater than the standard ones.

azzeretti

Fr Dougal wrote:

preferably 9mm Marine ply

:eek:

I usually use 4mm myself, its much easier when/if you ever want to take the tiles back up - as my wife does reguarly!!

One tip, if it hasn't been said already, is to treat the ply before you lay the tiles with some form of tanking product and/or diluted polypond etc. This will serve two purposes, 1) It should stop the muck drying out too quickly when laying, 2) It should form a thin waterproof layer, which is nice too!