Filling gaps between plywood sheets or leave as is?

[aduckofsomesort]

Hi,

I am attempting my first ever bit of real DIY, having removed a load of laminate from the bathroom floor of the house we bought, I am laying some plywood sheets onto the floorboards, and going to put self adhesive tiles on top of that.

I measured all the spaces and cut the sheets, but since I'm very new to it and I was using a handsaw and a pair of crap saw horses with no real stabilisation, I wasn't able to keep all the lines exactly straight, so there are areas where the sheets don't fit together exactly, with gaps of maybe 5mm or so as attached.

Is that going to be a problem once everything is screwed down and I start on the tiles? And if so, what can I use to fill them beforehand?

Thanks.

 

[dazlight]

Yes mate. You should have had all cut edges facing walls and the factory edge butted up.
You be better with ring nails then screws for that plywood really. Is it 6mm or 4mm ?
You need to sand every joint and fill them with 2 coats of feather finish type screed

 

[foxhole]

Needs wood repair filler before tiling or gaps will show .

 

[aduckofsomesort]

Yes mate. You should have had all cut edges facing walls and the factory edge butted up.
You be better with ring nails then screws for that plywood really. Is it 6mm or 4mm ?
You need to sand every joint and fill them with 2 coats of feather finish type screed

I don't know what most of what you said means, but it's 5.5mm.

Needs wood repair filler before tiling or gaps will show .

Ok thanks. I'll buy some and fill the gaps in then.

 

[cdbe]

And consider a nice roll of vinyl, for a small area the commercial stuff makes sense and comes in more homely styles these days. Stick down tiles from BandQ or The Range are rubbish.

 

[aveatry]

I second the vinyl option.
As for your ply I would use screws, consider a nail will take 5 blows to knock it down - it still will need further tapping below the surface lets say 50 nails at least = 250 hammer blows which could risk cracking the ceiling below. Use screws no longer than the orig floorboards as you do not know what is underneath.

 

[aduckofsomesort]

Thanks all. I gave up with what I'd done and bought bigger plywood sheets and am using a jigsaw instead of a handsaw, so should be straighter and easier hopefully.

 

[aveatry]

Thanks all. I gave up with what I'd done and bought bigger plywood sheets and am using a jigsaw instead of a handsaw, so should be straighter and easier hopefully.

Its actually harder to cut a straight line with a jig saw than it is with a hand saw, unles you us a guide to run the saw against

 

[dazlight]

The reason ring nails are better with thin plywood ( 6 & 4mm ) as the head doesn’t go inside the ply like screws do so they hold the plywood down better. And they take 2 hits to get in.

 

[aveatry]

The reason ring nails are better with thin plywood ( 6 & 4mm ) as the head doesn’t go inside the ply like screws do so they hold the plywood down better. And they take 2 hits to get in.

Thats still 100 hits with the hammer, I wouldnt do it with my brand new artex skimmed over ceilings underneath. The idea with the screw is exactly to pull down and countersink itself - its still going to hold the ply plenty well enough - you could always put more in and they are easier to remove - given its a bathroom there is bound to be some changes to the pipe work wanted in the future

 

[matlob]

How big is the room? As has been said already do all the cuts around the outside of the flooring so everything that touches/joins has straight edges

 

[dazlight]

Thats still 100 hits with the hammer, I wouldnt do it with my brand new artex skimmed over ceilings underneath. The idea with the screw is exactly to pull down and countersink itself - its still going to hold the ply plenty well enough - you could always put more in and they are easier to remove - given its a bathroom there is bound to be some changes to the pipe work wanted in the future

It’s a lot more than 100. The plywood has to be nailed / screwed every 6” in the centres and every 4” on the perimeter of fully bonding materials.

 

[aveatry]

It’s a lot more than 100. The plywood has to be nailed / screwed every 6” in the centres and every 4” on the perimeter of fully bonding materials.

I would if I was putting real tiles on ( apart from also thicker ply ) but probably would bother putting so may for vinyl - or should I

 

[foxhole]

Thats still 100 hits with the hammer, I wouldnt do it with my brand new artex skimmed over ceilings underneath. The idea with the screw is exactly to pull down and countersink itself - its still going to hold the ply plenty well enough - you could always put more in and they are easier to remove - given its a bathroom there is bound to be some changes to the pipe work wanted in the future

Something very wrong with your property if nailing down a floor covering makes you ceiling fall down . Screws in thin ply will create lumps all over the floor.