Ceramic Tiling A Wooden Bathroom Floor

I read an american article that cement backer boards are a better option than plywood for covering floorboards before tiling,has anyone any comments about using this material, is it expensive?, is it readily available in the UK?

Have not used cement backer boards. As for ply boarding the floor it is a long process. Have you tried securing the floor boards and using a Rubber based flexible adhesive.

Ty

Haven't used it on a floor but use it all the time for showers rather than plasterboard. Most common one is Aqua panel by Knaff you can get it from wickes about £14 for a 900x1200 sheet.

Screwfix do something similar for flooring but I have not tried it.

Jason

So do you have to lay an aquapanel to the floorboards before tiling?

Aquapanel is great stuff on walls (although bl**dy heavy to lift and screw against the wall if doing it yourself), but if you laid it on an uneven floor it might crack after traffic on it. Ply has more flex in it so won't crack. However if it isn't fitted super securely then ply flexing will cause the tile adhesive and grout to crack!

I only say the aquapanel might crack. It really is very solid stuff and the sheer weight of it is surprising, hence why it comes in small sheets. It should work for your purpose, but make sure the floor is flat first

If nothing else, Knauff aquapanel smells really nice!

Corrado said:

So do you have to lay an aquapanel to the floorboards before tiling?

Click to expand...

That is what you would do, yes.

1) First of all determine where your floor joists are (look at where the screws are in your floorboards for an indication).
2) Mark where the joists are by putting masking tape on your walls where you believe the joists meet them. This means you can see where they are even after the floorboards are covered.
3) Lay the aquapanels, staggered if it is a large area.
4) Screw the aquapanels to the joists using the recommended screws (Wickes sell them, ceramic coated). You may get away with greencoated exterior screws. After that, you can tile straight on but I found that a coat of diluted PVA (allowed to dry overnight) allows more working time with the adhesive.

Aquapanel is quite easy to work with. You can cut and snap like plasterboard, but you need a really sharp knife and the edges don't come out very neat. I found that a standard hardpoint woodsaw (your bog standard saw for cutting wood quickly rather than neatly) worked best at cutting the panel neatly. You need to wear a mask as it produces cement dust when you work with it.

If you have any gaps bigger than a milimetre or so between the panels after fitting, before you tile force tile adhesive into the gap (smooth off any excess, don't leave it proud) and allow to dry overnight before tiling the rest of the floor.

or you can ensure you floorboards are screw fixed not just nailed, then prime the floor with an APD primer and tile direct with fastflex and grout using a modified grout, nice and simple.

happy tiling

paul riley

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Aqua panel is a great material for screwing to the floor prior to tiling and is totally waterproof (so would be great in a wet room), and makes a perfect base for fixing tiles, however at £12 a sheet from wickes, it’s not the cheapest solution and raises the floor level by around 12 mm prior to the 10mm or so the tiles will raise the floor by, it also adds quite a bit of weight to the timber sub floor.
A great alternative on a fairly level timber floor is to lay 6 or 9mm ply (9 would be better but think about the finished floor level) staggered across the floorboards and screwed every 6-8 inches. Prime the floor and use a one part flexible adhesive (far less hassle than the adhesive + latex additive option).

Stickers

Moving into a new house still under construction floorboards are very flexible should I lay 9mm ply befor tiling
Cheers