Bathroom Flooring Help, advice, information, answers and tips on all types of flooring from laminate and carpet to timber and vinyl

[ben mills]

I'm new to DIY but have always been a very hands on person and i'm prepairing to replaced my bathroom suite. It currantly has lino down, which will be coming up when it's removed and i'm unsure of what to replace it with. The floor in the bathroom is chip board as far as i can see (6 year old house) and its not very even which makes me want to stay away from tiling or laying any laminated flooring as it won't sit down very well. Is this an easy fix? Or am i worrying about nothing? Any help would be greatful before i go out and by some nasty lino.

[thedoctor]

Not for us to say whether "worrying" is right but you are certainly right to take care when laying any kind of floor in a bathroom. Its usual to lay a plywood floor over the existing floor (18 or 22mm ply) and screw it through the existing floor, into the joists, every 400mm in both directions. THis will give you a solid, flat base for any new flooring and prevent movement in the timber floor if you wanted to lay ceramic or quarry floor tiles. The ply needs to be treated with 1 coat of PVA adhesive diluted with water to 50/50 and then, when dry, a coat of PVA undiluted. See our project on PVA. The PVA is required before you lay tiles which need adhesive but not necessary for laminate.