Bathroom Refit - Removing Chipboard Floors

[356Speedster]

Having lurked in the background, reading post after post, it's time to ask the experts a few questions!

My wife & I recently moved to a 9.5yr old house. Aside from a few squeaky floorboards and some dodgy paint colours (including peach window frames!!), our main issue is with the bathrooms. They're all fine, but not to our taste. The sanitary wear is a little ornate, the tiles are a little "flowery", the gold fixtures are dull and the less said about the laminate wood flooring in them the better.

Having spent a LONG time looking in bathroom / tile shops & brochures, we've decided to rip out all 4 bathrooms and start from scratch. New showers, bogs, sinks & bath, new wall tiles and then floor tiles. And here comes the questions....

It's quite clear from reading this forum that tiling onto the existing cheapboard (sorry chipboard!) is a no-go (especiallly as it's squeaky in a lot of places upstairs anyway). Thinking about overboarding with ply and then tiling, I'm not keen on that one as I don't want a step from the bedrooms / landing into the bathrooms. Instead it looks like the only solution is to rip the chip up and go with some ply.

However, how do I go about pulling up the old boards, when more than likely the run under the stud walls? Are there any inside tips you can give me for pulling up floors around stud partitions? I really don't want to start pulling up carpets / floors in adjoing rooms to get to the other end of the chipboard sheets. As I'll be tiling the walls all the way to the floor, I'll pull the skirting boards if that helps....

Whilst I'm ply boarding the floors, I think it would be prudent to add some noggins for bracing & extra strength (if a job's worth doing and all that..). However, what's the best way to secure the braces if you can't get all the way around the joists (because of walls above, pipes, etc)?

Thanks for your advice, I'm sure there'll be more questions as the project goes on!

 

[noseall]

if i owned a house with four bathrooms i would be inclined to get someone in.

 

[356Speedster]

I think I must be either ambitious or foolhardy, I'm not sure which there's nothing like a good project!!

Anyone any advice on removing chipboard as it runs around & under the walls?

Thanks!

 

[mattysupra]

if i owned a house with four bathrooms i would be inclined to get someone in.

must agree. Any advice i will give tho will be to leave down what you have and fix sqeak's by pullind out nails and replacing with screws the same length. Then plywood.

 

[JohnD]

if i owned a house with four bathrooms i would be inclined to get someone in.

If I owned a house with four bathrooms I wouldn't have any money left to get someone in. I'd be down to my last million

 

[mattysupra]

funny. but well said

 

[PilotPete]

Hey up 356

I have been tackling exactly the problems you mention in my 15 year old house which has that god awful T & G chipboard flooring. ALL my floors squeak like hell.

In my ensuite bathroom I used my Bosch circular saw with the blade set to 18mm depth (the depth of the T & G) and ran it along the floor edge up against the internal partition walls. On the external walls I just removed the board from under the skirting. This left about a 2" 'lip' sticking out from each stud wall. I re-inforced the whole floor with extra battening (4x2) and butted lengths under the 'lip' secured to the joist under the wall to provide a support for the edge of the new floor.



Then placed 18mm WPB ply floor down, secured with Spax screws (they are simply superb) and available from Jewsons. I countersunk all the heads and drilled a small pilot hole for each screw and the whole floor is so solid it feels like a concrete slab!



I then laid 6mm Marmox boards over the whole floor using Dunlop Tile on Wood bagged adhesive, which is flexible and suitable with electric underfloor heating cable which I buried with levelling compound (flexible required).



The room has been tanked in the above picture, which was taken before the UFH went in.

Travertine stone tiles will then be laid (next week hopefully) and the total height of the new floor is less than 20mm higher than the old. Bearing in mind the depth of the carpet in the ajoining bedroom, there will be very little step.


In the three bedrooms I have decorated so far I could not get the nails out (ribbed), so drilled off the heads and punched them down into the joists before securing the whole floor with the fabled Spax screws. Under the stud wall sole plates I forced in Gripfill to stop the movement between floor and stud wall.....the internal ensuite wall had only 2 x 6" nails holding down the 9 foot sole plate! This has done the trick and stopped the squeaking.

 

[mattysupra]

its not often that i see something and can say fair play you have done well. So be priviledged when i say, " fair play, that looks the dogs bo****k's " How about you do a write up on how to tank/construct a wet room?

 

[PilotPete]

I shall do a post when the whole thing is complete. It has taken me months as I have had to learn each job as I have gone along, but that has all been part of the fun, researching the correct products and then making the best job of fitting them that I can. Lots of useful info has been gleaned from this site. Starting tiling tomorrow! Anyhow, don't want to creep this thread any further.........!

 

[gcol]

if i owned a house with four bathrooms i would be inclined to get someone in.

That's what I though so I didn't bother replying.

Good work PilotPete! That's the easy bit done - now just take your time with the tiling and don't cock it up. We will of course, demand to see pics of the finished article. Good luck.

Just looking again, are you making a wet room? If so, what are you going to do about a slope down to a drain? If not, why did you bother with the Wedi board on the floor?

 

[356Speedster]

if i owned a house with four bathrooms i would be inclined to get someone in.

That's what I though so I didn't bother replying.

It's only one more than most 4 bed houses have - the company who designed & built it, just utilised some extra space to manipulate the rooms & fit them in - it's definately no mansion, pls don't get the wrong idea!

We bought it as a DIY project because it had potential, I don't like paying someone to do a job unless I really know it's beyond my capabilities or it needs to be done immediately.

PilotPete - Thanks very much for your post, it's got to be one of the most useful I've read in all my research to date, well done! The trusty jigsaw is going to have to make way for an adjustable circular saw to chop the old chipboard out of the bathrooms. I like the way you've braced the joists, I'll give that some thought too.

Many thanks.

 

[PilotPete]

gcol

The shower floor (the far end of the room) came in a kit form, with a 'Wedi' like pre-formed shower tray, 1300mm long by 900mm wide. This has the pre-formed falls in it to the drain. However, the pre-formed tray is 20mm deep, the WBP ply 18mm, the insulation boards for the 'non-shower' floor area 6mm, the underfloor heating cable 3mm and the the self levelling compound! I had to draw a picture and have the far end of the room on the joists with the rest of the floor slightly raised (I forget the exact dimensions now) to make the final levels match.

Having said that, I didn't feel the pre-formed falls were enough and have since built them up to make them steeper. I used Dunlop Tile On Wood, which was also used to stick down the insulation boards to the ply.

On the tiling front, things have not gone well. I have done a bit before, but 600 x 400mm stone tiles are beyond my abilities. I had all the right tools and gear, levelled everything and had planned it all out correctly. Unfortunately, after laying 2 rows on the first wall I had too much lipping and just wasn't happy. This included lipping between tiles on the same row and in between the two rows. I removed problem tiles and refitted, still finding it too difficult to achieve a good enough result. I also cracked one tile trying to get it to bed down a little further..... I realised that it was beyond me and that I wouldn't be happy with the finished result so spent a very unhappy hour removing what I had done and washing all the adhesive off the tiles and the wall. I shall be calling in a pro for this bit on Monday. It would be such a shame to hide my good work with something shoddy!

 

[mactabby]

Pilotpete - any chance of an update on your project? Would love to see the finished product!

 

[PilotPete]

Been really busy at work, and as I posted the large format stone proved too difficult to get a good finish without some practice, so I have been waiting for two months for a tiler who came recommended. He started last week and is finishing off early this week coming. Here are a couple of pictures of his work so far.






Looks good so far, maybe just a couple of 'less pretty' tiles that I would have placed less prominently, but I think it looks fine. Floor and grouting to come before I can get back in there and start installing the various fixtures. As promised I will do a full description in a seperate post when it is all done.

 

[Moz]

PilotPete
thats a boss job ..

lol have you stolen them pics off other sites ?