Where on earth am I going to get 22mm plywood?

aliasojo

Been on the phone for ages, no-one has this thickness and they say they can't order it.

I know you can get it....but where from?

I'm ripping up the 18mm chipboard floor and replacing with ply straight onto the joists. I could get 25mm but I'm worried about the increased weight of the 25mm stuff on the joists and also the extra height. I'm thinking I would use Hardibacker 6mm board over the ply to tile on, so every mm counts.

DVardysShadow

The extra weight should not be an issue - no more than 3kg/m^2.

zax47

aliasojo wrote: »

I know you can get it....

Apparently not. :rotfl:


Sorry, didn't mean to be so flippant. In my experience it's a special order product and has minimum order quantities of many sq m! If you really need the extra "strength" then for the tiny bit of extra weight use 25mm as it's readily available. Why are you ripping up the 18mm chipboard? IME it's more rigid and less "bouncy" under tiles than ply (of the same thickness), especially seeing as you want to use an additional backboard under the tile anyway. Had any advice from a tiler?

Have a read of this post and this post at the Tilers Forums.

jedmc571

why not put 12 mm down, and then hardibacker board?

Although 18m WBP ply screwed every 300mm is more than sufficient.

Or you could use 22mm T&G moisture resistant boards

No real straight answer, several options.

Cheers

Jed

aliasojo

zax47 wrote: »

Apparently not. :rotfl:


Sorry, didn't mean to be so flippant. In my experience it's a special order product and has minimum order quantities of many sq m! If you really need the extra "strength" then for the tiny bit of extra weight use 25mm as it's readily available. Why are you ripping up the 18mm chipboard? IME it's more rigid and less "bouncy" under tiles than ply (of the same thickness), especially seeing as you want to use an additional backboard under the tile anyway. Had any advice from a tiler?

Have a read of this post and this post at the Tilers Forums.

Lol, no worries.....I was thinking the same thing anyway. The 18mm chipboard has started squeaking so thought I'd kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I thought ply was more rigid than chipboard. Advice from a plumber and a joiner....can't get a tiler for love nor money at the moment. One told me he couldn't do the job this side of Christmas.

jedmc571 wrote: »

why not put 12 mm down, and then hardibacker board?

I was told 12mm was not strong enough for a floor and that the Hardibacker board was more to give the tiles a good base rather than add structural strength.

< that's all I seem to do these days. :rotfl:

ormus

maybe use 2 x 9mm or 2 x 12mm plywood?
bit more expensive its true.
but both sizes are regular stock sizes.

zax47

aliasojo wrote: »

Lol, no worries.....I was thinking the same thing anyway. The 18mm chipboard has started squeaking so thought I'd kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I thought ply was more rigid than chipboard.

Maybe the existing chipboard needs more fixings - at least every 300mm - as if it's squeaking there must be movement. I would have though a properly fixed 18mm board (of whatever sort) plus your backboard would be fine. If the joists are a bit undersize and it all needs strengthening to prevent flexing and potential joint cracking then I guess you'll have to go thicker. Add more fixings first and see if it still moves, it's save you some hassle.

Advice from a plumber and a joiner....can't get a tiler for love nor money at the moment. One told me he couldn't do the job this side of Christmas.

Good tilers are always busy - and worth more than their weight in gold! If he's free next week then he's probably rubbish.

TomsMom

aliasojo wrote: »

can't get a tiler for love nor money at the moment. One told me he couldn't do the job this side of Christmas.

Then seriously consider booking him Aliasojo. No joke! My son is a tiler and frequently gets booked up weeks in advance. Some people aren't willing to wait. He's had people tell him they can't wait that long, get someone else in who can do it earlier, then ring him up a couple of months down the line and ask him to go and sort out other tiler's bodge job!

If this tiler's price is acceptable, and you can wait for him, go and look at some of his work and if you like what you see book him.

andyhop

18mm plywood is more than enough

We do however use 6mm hardibacker over the top and have never had a failure yet

Try CTD for cheap Hardibacker

aliasojo

I think I'm going to toss a coin now, lol. I posted on the tiler's forum too and 3 of them say put 25mm ply down. I asked about putting 18mm down with 6 mm backer board but they still say 25mm. If the experts have differing opinions, us Joe Bloggs DIY'ers haven't got a hope of knowing what's the best thing to do. :rotfl:

I think I'm just going to get drunk tonight.

As for the tiler, I can't wait unfortunately. I have no bath/shower at all just now and only one downstairs loo between 5 of us. I have to get the floor laid and the shower/bath wall at least, so I can get the wc back in action and we can wash properly. The builder's bucket has rapidly lost it's novelty factor. :rolleyes:

The lads who are doing the plumbing have said they tile too, so fingers crossed they take the same care with the tiling as they do the plumbing.

aliasojo

zax47 wrote: »

Maybe the existing chipboard needs more fixings - at least every 300mm - as if it's squeaking there must be movement.

I'm inclined to think the board is sagging very very slightly between the joists and the creaking sound is in the centre of the board, not at the edges/ends. I said elsewhere that I felt the quality of the boards wasn't as good as the ones we used previously in a different room even although they are meant to be the same standard 18mm. The builder's merchants have changed their supplier between the lots we bought so it's making me wonder.

Course that could just be a load of rubbish and it's just more noggins that's needed. :rotfl:(They're screwed every 200mm along the joists btw)

Also, the builder's merchants told me I should have glued along the top of the joists as well as the t & g of the boards. I only glued the t & g.

Someone else told me I shouldn't have used the pva woodglue as it dries and then cracks.

See........more of them > .