Advice needed about fixing studs to a ceramic tiled floor

[Westerco]

My hall is tiled with ceramic tiles which extend under the stairs (which are currently opened up).

I'm looking at closing off this space and creating some storage cupboards, but I'm not sure what would be the best way to attach the stud work for this to the ceramic floor.

I think the best thing to do would be to drill through the tiles and screw the battens to the sub floor, but I'm worried about cracking the tiles. Someone has suggested that I could use a grab adhesive to glue the studs to the tiles, but I don't know if this would be strong enough to work.

I would appreciate any advice on the best thing to do in this situation.

 

[KenGMac]

Westerco, good evening.

What is the Sub-Floor made of? timber or Concrete?

Drilling ceramic tiles is usually fairly easy, use the drills made for this task.

You can consider introduction of a "compressible" strip, neoprene or even thick cardboard, advantage of a compressible material is that any slight undulations in the tiles and assist in prevention of tile crack.

Ken.

 

[Tigercubrider]

You could glue or silicone a timber baserail so that it would be removable then screw to that.

 

[Westerco]

The house was built around 1905, so the floor is traditional timber floorboards.

Tigercubrider, I take it from your reply that there are glues available that could stick wooden studs to ceramic tiles? Are there any that you could recommend?

Thanks

 

[conny]

No nails would be sufficient but consider if you may want to remove the structure at some time in the future.
You can remove these adhesives with a bit of patience but it can be a pain in the 'arris.
As it's below the stairs the 'compressible' strip is a good idea.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Glue a stud wall to a tile floor with a construction adhesive (e.g Grip Fill) then whack it with something heavy (e.g. falling 18 stone adult, chest freezer being moved carelessly, kids, etc) and it may well move. It's a bit of a bodge TBH. Drill with a masonry bit (something like a Bosch construct in a regular non-hammer drill) until you start coming out the other side (the feel changes) then screw into the timber beneath. By all means use a construction adhesive as a backup, but not as the primary bond because there are too many variables (e.g. tile surface contamination, impermeable tile surface, etc) which can cause the body to fail unexpectedly

 

[Westerco]

I think the screw fixing with the adhesive backup is the way to go thanks.

 

[foxhole]

You could fix thru the grout line, easy enough to make good on removal .

 

[Deleted member 174758]

You could fix thru the grout line, easy enough to make good on removal .

Grout line 2 to 3mm? Brown plug hole 7mm. So you'll damage the tiles either way. I'd just drill without hammer action on - slow, but it'll work on all but the hardest tiles

 

[foxhole]

Grout line 2 to 3mm? Brown plug hole 7mm. So you'll damage the tiles either way. I'd just drill without hammer action on - slow, but it'll work on all but the hardest tiles

We don't know tile spacing could be up to 10mm.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

True enough