Floor tiles help (first time)

[Nursejane38]

Hi I am moving into a new build soon and to save money doing the tiling in the kitchen myself.

The floor is wooden (not floorboards) and I've been watching videos about priming the floors before laying the tiles. I have seen the following things...

Use pva on it the night before

Use a pva/water mixture on it a couple of hours before.

NEVER use pva on wood before tiling.

So I am a bit confused. What do I need to use/get for the floor before tiling please?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Deleted member 292770]

can we see a picture of the floor?

 

[opps]

PVA should not be used when tiling. At a minimum, use SBR. Unlike PVA it does not emulsify when wet.

I suspect that you might need a decoupling matt under the tiles though. It helps to deal with differences in tile/wood expansion.

 

[Nursejane38]

Hi I do not have a picture sorry as we are waiting for handover.

Can you please let me know where I can get sbr from and what decoupling matt is? (Sorry I'm completely nee to this)

Thanks for all your help

 

[Mr Chibs]

Primer G (Mapei) is a popular primer, can be used pre tiling.

Decoupling mat is quite expensive (Ditra) you may be best buying a length/roll from ebay. You can get a thin 'crack mat' which is only 1mm thick, Ditra one is around 3mm thick.

I think some people overboard their floorboards/chipboard with plywood first, you could then use flexible adhesive and grout and possible not use the mat, depending on there state of your floor.

When laying use levelling wedges (Screwfix £10) to reduce the chance of lippage.

Good luck.

PS mix your own adhesive, don't buy ready mixed.

 

[Nursejane38]

Thank you so much for your help its really appreciated. Sorry to be a pain butncan I ask one more question? My tiles are 600mm by 300mm large rectangular tiles. Should I use a notched trowel with 20mm gaps?

 

[opps]

SBR

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SikaBond-Waterproof-bonding-mortar-admixture/dp/B01JYXFHRE/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=sbr&qid=1658234307&sr=8-7&th=1

As Mr Chibs says, you can use the likes of Primer G. Mapei is a good brand.

The rest of his advice is sound. With regards to the wedges, yeah, tile levelling systems make sense. And yup, mix your own adhesive and grout. The powder mixes use cement to cure, the stuff in tubs cure via evaporation (and can take ages).

 

[opps]

Trowel advice

Trowel: Choose the Right Size For You

Once we’ve learnt how to measure the tile trowel size, it is time to keep going on our tiling placement job!

www.rubi.com

 

[Deleted member 292770]

there’s some very generalised advice going on here.
We don’t even know what type wood floor it is or how structurally sound it is.

 

[drives]

I'd lay hardiebacker first and tile on top of that. I used 6mm and just followed the instructions- tile adhesive and then screw down.