Tiling 1930's entrance hall floorboards

Trig · 23 May 2008

Hi,

I've read up (including GCol's sticky) - all good. Still have 4 (hopefully quick!) questions - any help much appreciated.

My house is 1930's with floorboards throughout and voids below. I want to tile the entrance hall (approx 3m sq) and the floorboards are good, but see I need 12mm ply on top, which isn't ideal (would prefer thinner) but want to do a good job, so tough. The kitchen runs off the hall though and the kitchen floor shakes quite a bit when the washing machine's on. So....

1. Will the ply and flexible adhesive/grout still take care of it?
2. What gap should I leave between the ply and skirting (really don't want to take the skirting off!) - 10mm?
3. Will the ply need to acclimatise first?
4. Checked under the floorboards and no rot but carpet was down before, so guessing this breathed better. Anyone have any experience of rot problems after having tiled, or is it okay with enough airbricks?

Ta very much

Trigger (said in a Boycie-style voice

)

roughcaster · 23 May 2008

Gcol will be along shortly,,,,, but your impersonation of Boycie was brilliant.

Us Brit's have got talent right enough.

Roughcaster.

gcol · 23 May 2008

Trig said:
1. Will the ply and flexible adhesive/grout still take care of it?

Yep, should be fine. Vibration isn't much of a problem - excessive flex is.

Trig said:
2. What gap should I leave between the ply and skirting (really don't want to take the skirting off!) - 10mm?

Nah, 10mm is excessive, leave no more than 3 or 4mm - it'll not shift that much. In any case, whatever gap you leave will be covered anyway.
Leave 1mm between sheets.
Ideally you should seal the back of the sheets of ply, but it's not generally done.

Trig said:
3. Will the ply need to acclimatise first?

A couple of days in the room won't hurt.

Trig said:
4. Checked under the floorboards and no rot but carpet was down before, so guessing this breathed better. Anyone have any experience of rot problems after having tiled, or is it okay with enough airbricks?

I wouldn't worry about it.

Trig · 24 May 2008

Cool - ta very much gents, and particularly GCol of course. Thanks for the 1mm tip too - probably wouldn't have thought of that to be honest.
Top bloke - clearly know your tiling and do the job properly!

...well, in that case, excuse me, but I have to get off my arse and get a move on...!

Thanks again

Trig

gcol · 24 May 2008

No problem. Have fun.

Trig · 15 Nov 2008

Hi Gcol,

If you pick this up, just wanted to say thanks for your help all those months ago. Got it all done and looks fantastic, though it was a LOT of work. Took me 3 hours just to plan the tile layout properly (awkward shaped entrance hall), but it was worth it.

So far anyway, no gaps or problems with vibration etc so we'll see how many years, or months (!) it lasts.

Thanks again and have a good Christmas,

Trig

gcol · 15 Nov 2008

Thanks for the update Trig. Don't be shy - post some pics.

Trig · 16 Nov 2008

ok then, here goes nothing....!

//www.diynot.com/network/Trig/albums/1600

By the way, I actually finished back at the start of July, not recently.

gcol · 16 Nov 2008

Looks smart Trig - good job.
Any reason you didn't tile the kitchen floor?

Trig · 18 Nov 2008

Ah - yeah, good question. I only moved in last year and already had to remove the tops of the washing machine etc to squeeze them under the worktops, and they already sit on the bare floorboards. So basically to tile the kitchen properly (i.e. under the appliances etc and, ideally really, under the units as well, would have meant at the very least raising all the worktops and removing the tiled splashbacks to do that etc etc. So basically all but replacing the whole kitchen!! A plan for the next few years, when I have the cash to replace the kitchen as well. I'll do that myself too but just don't have the money right now.

The tiling does look good I must admit, thanks. Took me a long time but then I am a bit of a perfectionist! Only mistake was fitting the new skirting before tiling - obviously should have done that the other way around, but I ended up getting the grout lines so tidy that it still looks good.

Oh, and working with rapidset is a bloody nightmare!!

Got there in the end though....

gcol · 18 Nov 2008

Trig said:
Oh, and working with rapidset is a b****y nightmare!!

What makes you say that?

Trig · 26 Dec 2008

Sorry for taking so long to come back to you!!

Only said that because I do admittedly work quite slowly and I had a couple of batches go off too quick. Either I mixed up too much or, more likely, took too long to use it. I'm sure it'd be easier with practice.

Anyway, hope you're having a great Christmas.

Regards
Trig

Alastairreid · 26 Dec 2008

lovely job trig.

Trig · 28 Dec 2008

Ta very much - was hard work! But worth it in the end.

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Tiling 1930's entrance hall floorboards

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