DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi People

I have just found my builder has put our tiles down on gripfill in our kitchen which is concrete and our bathroom upstairs which is chipboard. He says it is better i say no chance it should be bed on adhesive and pva solution layed first. How do you reacon it should be done. Thanks in advance

Your builder isn't a tiler is he?

He's wrong - the proper adhesive should have been used in both cases and never tile direct over chipboard floor. If he's just laid the chipboard before tiling then he's cutting corners to save money - should have used WPB ply.

Problem is - are you going to get him to change it? If you make one hell of a stink it's possible. If he digs his heels in say you want a written 10 year guarantee that his methods are OK and watch his face.

Cheers

I'm totally with Rosebery here.

The trouble is the floor in my opinion will fail quite quickly, but the cost of putting it right will be great, but needs to be done!

Definately needs to have used a proper tiling adhesive and the chipboard floor needs to have a ply layer on it too as the others have mentioned.

Also, don't use PVA. It will cause more problems than the gripfil!

absolutely not the way to do it. if he has done it that way then i'd imagine that he's only dotted the adhesive in the corners as well - floor tiles in particular need to have a good bed underneath. any voids and they can easily break when walked on.

also the chances of the gripfill failing is high, especially if the tiles and floor were not sealed - the backs of tiles can be quite dusty and a decent grab may not have been achieved. this is not the job that gripfill was ever intended for.

don't tile over chipboard - put a layer of WBP ply over the top. and use latex adhesive, not pva (thanks to rosebery who has made me aware of this on previous posts!)

if i were you i wouldn't pay him until he has come up with a solution.