Tiled bathroom floor?

deedums

Thanks to everyone who replied, it has certainly helped - you're all so knowledegable & clever people!

Apart from genuinely thinking you couldn't put tiles on floorboards (well, I was 1/2 right!) my argument has been that it would be so cold on the feet. Think I'll have a look at the vinyl suggested but do agree that ceramics look really good - perhaps I could cover the walking area with bath mats.

Thanks again everyone your advice is much appreciated.

anskills

tiling is a fairly cheap way to go and i also think it looks the best. very easy to clean also. ive heard about ameteka prices and to be honest, give me tiles anyday!

just get a nice bath mat or a wooden duckboard like we have, they are also very modern and fashionable

type duckboard into argos search box, they have them for £10 ish

gingercat

deedums wrote:

perhaps I could cover the walking area with bath mats.

I'd be careful about doing this as your mats will slide around like crazy unless they have some sort of rubber grip - not the safest thing when climbing in/out of a bath.

deedums

Thanks anskills & gingercat. I hadn't thought about the sliding bit and with teenage boys in the house that could be a real problem, not that the bathroom is big enough for them to do any real damage - only to themselves!

anskills

i reckon over 20 million folk in the Uk will have their bathroom floors tiled, its really not that much of an accident risk lol

George_Bray

About 8 years ago I used 'flexible' adhesive (not that it feels at all soft) to fix fairly large ceramic tiles DIRECT to the bathroom floorboards. I heard all the recommendations about using a plyboard interface but didn't want to raise the floor level, so I ignored the advice and went ahead.

The results have been perfect. No cracks or anything. I'd do the same again without hesitation. I just hope the Government don't bring in a rule against it, like they've done in virtually banning DIY electrical work or window replacement in the home.

The tiles are not all that cold. Just use a bathmat.

Regards
George

anskills

lets face it, for all the tiny amount that the floor level is being raised i would rather be safe than sorry. fair enough in your case its been ok and in many others im sure it would also but for the cost of £10 a sheet and a couple of hours i would rather be safe than sorry and minimise the chance of cracking as if some did it would be a complete pain in the !!!!!! to re-fit and make good the damaged bits

p.s. im not a joiner by any means, or know about types of wood, but i assume there are no issues with the adhesive rotting the floorboards, as it would if your floors are chipboard like in newer cheaper made houses nowadays?

Party_Animal

The reason for laying the ply on top of the boards is that the original boards are laid on joists which allow movement. Raisng the floor by a 1/4 of an inch isn't noticable but is highly recommended.

George_Bray

Party_Animal wrote:

The reason for laying the ply on top of the boards is that the original boards are laid on joists which allow movement. Raisng the floor by a 1/4 of an inch isn't noticable but is highly recommended.

Eight years ago when I glued my tiles direct to the floorboards, I guessed that movement was the issue. So I added lots of new screws to the existing few nails which attach the floorboards to the joists. It seems to have done the trick. There is virtually no scope for movement. I highly recommend this approach. I can't see any advantage of adding a wafer thin layer of 1/4 inch plyboard. It's just something else to wobble around.

For me, 1/4 inch of plyboard would still have taken the bathroom floor too high, after the depth of the tiles and a fair bit of cement.

Regards
George

Party_Animal

George_Bray wrote:

Eight years ago when I glued my tiles direct to the floorboards, I guessed that movement was the issue. So I added lots of new screws to the existing few nails which attach the floorboards to the joists. It seems to have done the trick. There is virtually no scope for movement. I highly recommend this approach. I can't see any advantage of adding a wafer thin layer of 1/4 inch plyboard. It's just something else to wobble around.

For me, 1/4 inch of plyboard would still have taken the bathroom floor too high, after the depth of the tiles and a fair bit of cement.

Regards
George

Well done George. You've clearly solved the problem. However, it is common and accepted practice when specifying to lay the ply to try and compensate for deflection which can be affected by type of timber, joist sizing, joist spacing etc.
Cheers