Self-Level over Ply? Or rip it up?

sundin13

I've just chiselled up a load of broken floor tiles from our bathroom....so I'm down to a plywood subfloor with a fair amount of adhesive left on (which I could scrape off).

The toilet, sink and shower are all installed over the tiles, so I haven't done anything about them yet.

Question for you please.

Is my best bet to just dry it out and get some self-leveller over the top - that way I can leave the fittings in situ and just level the floor?

Or do I need to pull up and replace the ply (how I cut it is another question)

Complete DIY novice by the way. And its the only bathroom in the house, so I need to make a quick decision.

Thank you

S13:beer:

sundin13

Just a quick, hopeful, bump before I head to screwfix this afternoon.



Can I add that I don’t think there is any chance of me lifting the shower tray to redo under it, so regardless of whether I self level or re-ply, it’ll only go up to the edge of the (curved)tray.

traineepensioner

sundin13 wrote: »

I've just chiselled up a load of broken floor tiles from our bathroom....so I'm down to a plywood subfloor with a fair amount of adhesive left on (which I could scrape off).

The toilet, sink and shower are all installed over the tiles, so I haven't done anything about them yet.

Question for you please.

Is my best bet to just dry it out and get some self-leveller over the top - that way I can leave the fittings in situ and just level the floor?

Or do I need to pull up and replace the ply (how I cut it is another question)

Complete DIY novice by the way. And its the only bathroom in the house, so I need to make a quick decision.

Thank you

S13:beer:

For a quick job, providing the plywood sub floor is still in good condition, I would be tempted to just scrape of the old adhesive and refix new floor tiles with a decent waterproof, flexible tile adhesive. A better job would be to install hardiebacker boards over the ply before laying the tiles (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZNltmI0Ts)

TheCyclingProgrammer

I'd say self-level if it doesn't bring the floor height up too much. When we ripped up the tiles in our downstairs hall the guy who installed our new laminate floor self-levelled the whole thing as it would have taken ages to get all of the adhesive off the ply and he needed to level off a few spots in the living/dining room at the same time anyway.