At the moment my bathroom flooring is constructed from T&G chipboard (I hate the stuff) and not even the waterproof variety.
I'll shortly be fitting a new bath and would like to do something with the way it's fitted, as the floor underneath it has evidence of a past leak and is swelled up in parts, and also creaks a bit under the weight of the bath and obviously is not massively stable as the sealant is always stretching and cracking around the bath.
I see a few options:
1) Mount the bath on some battons. The battons would run the full length of the bath which is the opposite way to the floor joists so should spread the load a bit better and the fact the floor is unstable or swelled in places shouldn't particularly matter.
2) Mount the bath on a sheet of waterproof chipboard (or something else?) the full size of the bath, and screw this down to the current flooring at, say, 30cm intervals across the full area.
3) Replace the flooring underneath the bath. If I do this, replace with waterproof chipboard or T&G floorboards?
4) Replace the whole bathroom floor with T&G floor boards. (Replacing the whole lot with chipboard isn't an option as I don't wish to remove the skirting boards or doorframes and won't be able to fit chipboard sheets into position.
What are peoples thoughts / recommendations?
I'll shortly be fitting a new bath and would like to do something with the way it's fitted, as the floor underneath it has evidence of a past leak and is swelled up in parts, and also creaks a bit under the weight of the bath and obviously is not massively stable as the sealant is always stretching and cracking around the bath.
I see a few options:
1) Mount the bath on some battons. The battons would run the full length of the bath which is the opposite way to the floor joists so should spread the load a bit better and the fact the floor is unstable or swelled in places shouldn't particularly matter.
2) Mount the bath on a sheet of waterproof chipboard (or something else?) the full size of the bath, and screw this down to the current flooring at, say, 30cm intervals across the full area.
3) Replace the flooring underneath the bath. If I do this, replace with waterproof chipboard or T&G floorboards?
4) Replace the whole bathroom floor with T&G floor boards. (Replacing the whole lot with chipboard isn't an option as I don't wish to remove the skirting boards or doorframes and won't be able to fit chipboard sheets into position.
What are peoples thoughts / recommendations?