Tiling on wooden floor boards! Help, advice, information, answers and tips on all types of flooring from laminate and carpet to timber and vinyl

[dcoonster]

Hi there, just been reading through comments from different postins and i've got a couple of quieries:

If your laying ply at 12-18mm, then your adhesive + tile at a thickness upto 10mm. The total thickness would be 30-35mm (not icluding any membrane), my question is: What happens near the door edge? i.e. the new layed floor would be higher than the door frame base, along with the fact that the door would have to be shaved down to fit. If the door was one of those hollow jobs then you only have so much to play with...and if there was a carpet joining up to this new floor, say the landing floor to the bathroom floor, wouldn't there be a step? How would you get round this as i'm currently about to do a floors in both kitchen and bathroom.

Also, there is a step down from the kitchen. The edge of the step is rounded, again with the kind of thickness mentioned above, how would i cover up the edge of the tile and make good the edge underneath the tile?

thanks Dave

[DUDE DIY]

Hi dave I understand your question. When tiling floors onto floor boards you do need to lay ply wood first. Some others on the forum may give varried advice on what depth ply wood to get. The ply wood is there to give a flat surface and to prevent the tiles and grout cracking with the movement of the floor boards below.
Ive layed floor tiles on thinner ply wood the what you mention and not had any problems, however thats your choice. Flexible grout usually overcomes and problems with movement. As far as it goes for the join between rooms and getting around door frames you have 2 choices. Tile right up to and door frames or saw a little of the bottom of the door frame so you can tile beneath. Again thats up to you, personally you get a neater finish taking a little off the frames.
The door to your bathroom would normally open into the room so you may need to adjust the door length slightly or you may be lucky and there might already be enough clearance. You can get joining strips which go between the join from one room to another. You can get these so one side is suitable for joining carpet and the other side of the strip is suitable for tiles/ laminate etc. Its difficult to comment on your kitchen step with out seeing it. Hope this helps....good luck with the tiling mate.

[dcoonster]

[quote="DUDE DIY"]Hi dave I understand your question. When tiling floors onto floor boards you do need to lay ply wood first. Some others on the forum may give varried advice on what depth ply wood to get. The ply wood is there to give a flat surface and to prevent the tiles and grout cracking with the movement of the floor boards below.
Ive layed floor tiles on thinner ply wood the what you mention and not had any problems, however thats your choice. Flexible grout usually overcomes and problems with movement. As far as it goes for the join between rooms and getting around door frames you have 2 choices. Tile right up to and door frames or saw a little of the bottom of the door frame so you can tile beneath. Again thats up to you, personally you get a neater finish taking a little off the frames.
The door to your bathroom would normally open into the room so you may need to adjust the door length slightly or you may be lucky and there might already be enough clearance. You can get joining strips which go between the join from one room to another. You can get these so one side is suitable for joining carpet and the other side of the strip is suitable for tiles/ laminate etc. Its difficult to comment on your kitchen step with out seeing it. Hope this helps....good luck with the tiling mate.[/quote]



Many thanks Dude!

The floor boards are pretty solid and to be fair all i was going to use was just 6mm ply with a flexible adhesive, but after reading on other forums and postings from this site amongst others, I started to panick as the majority were suggesting a minimum of 12mm ply and some flexible membrane (not sure if i'm aloud to say the name but it is pink!) which would cost a fortune and it would not be going all the way up to the edge of the wall, which i thought would be pointless. I.E. plywood down, then kitchen cabs followed by tiling the floor upto the edge of the cabinets! Again this was my intial thought about what to do...

As to the step leading down from the kitchen into a small (tiny) hallway (a space just to connect the kitchen and bathroom, about a meter square!) I think the only solution would be to tile over thew edge so that the edge of the tile over-hanging is directly/flush above the edge leading up. Therefore tiles can be put onto this vertical edge to meet up with the horizontal tiles with a basic tile trim joining them together. Did that make ANY sense?!?!

I was hoping to leave this particalr part of the step as wood as a feature and contrast to the tiles...is there another way?

Now though, it seems the whole prodject is on hold, as there seems to be water coming in from the outside through the brick wall! Is there a place on here where i can find reputable builders around my area as this would something out of my field of expertise!!!

Many thanks in advance,

Dave :shock:

[DUDE DIY]

It did make sense what you suggested. Id think you might have a few problems with tiles cracking id you them over a curved edge of a step without support for them underneath. Good luck with the wall leak! Best way to find a good builder is ask friends and neighbours. Better still look for a handy man rather than a builder if its not a big job. Always get a few quotes if its something big which needs correcting.

[chris_on_tour2002]

just one suggestion, you could remove the floorboards permanently then lay 18mm plywood straight onto the joists. this would reduce the height by three quarters of an inch.