I recently began replacing my bathroom (ground floor) in my flat. The floor was carpeted and where I was careless in jumping out of the bath without a bath mat, the floorboard (chipboard) absorbed the water and so had to be replaced. Wasn’t a big deal – I was replacing the positions of the toilet and sinks and replacing the bath with a shower anyway, so had to rip up the floor to get to the pipes anyway.
What I found was that the entire bathroom floor was supported by sheets of 50mm polystyrene – not something I had encountered before. I’ve since been told the likely justification for this is that polystyrene is employed to prevent problems associated with ground heave. Ok – no problem. Now I didn’t have any problems before (at least when it was carpeted) with the floor so I’m compelled to just lay the polystyrene again (like for like).
My question is, knowing that polystyrene does have a bit of “give” in it. Will it be safe, once the new floor has been put down, to lay floor tiles? I’m just nervous that, while before I never noticed any slight movements in the floor that as soon as I lay tiles the grouting will crack or I’ll get creaky tiles or something else untoward.
Just after reassurance or advice (novice DIYer) from anyone who has seen polystyrene used as floor supports…
What I found was that the entire bathroom floor was supported by sheets of 50mm polystyrene – not something I had encountered before. I’ve since been told the likely justification for this is that polystyrene is employed to prevent problems associated with ground heave. Ok – no problem. Now I didn’t have any problems before (at least when it was carpeted) with the floor so I’m compelled to just lay the polystyrene again (like for like).
My question is, knowing that polystyrene does have a bit of “give” in it. Will it be safe, once the new floor has been put down, to lay floor tiles? I’m just nervous that, while before I never noticed any slight movements in the floor that as soon as I lay tiles the grouting will crack or I’ll get creaky tiles or something else untoward.
Just after reassurance or advice (novice DIYer) from anyone who has seen polystyrene used as floor supports…