How to replace 18mm chipboard floor

[curium]

I need to tile the bathroom floor. The floor is 18mm chipboard. I've received conflicting advice. I purchased a bottle of BAL Prime APD, BAL single part flexible and BAL microcolour grout plus a bottle of GT1 admix as I was advised by a tradesman that the floor seemed fairly solid, it's not a big bathroom and with flexible adhesive and grout I should be fine.

I'm now getting cold feet and am wondering how much hardwork it would require for me to remove the chipboard and replace with 18mm ply.

The area to tile is only 120x170cm (2M^2) as I'll not be tiling under the bath, joists every 40cm. The boards are nailed down flush.

As mentioned they seem very solid with no creaking. Overboarding is not an option as there would be a step.

My partner is due to have our 1st child in 4weeks so I really need to move quickly on this whatever I decide.

Anyone got advice based on experience? What tools would I need to get the boards up without damaging services given that the nails are suck in? Would I need to replace the whole floor or is acceptable to just replace the area to be tiled?

Cheers!

 

[curium]

Whoopee!

Apparently I can use BAL fastflex to tile onto chipboard.

 

[Richard C]

Whoopee!

Apparently I can use BAL fastflex to tile onto chipboard.

I seem to remember we’ve been through all this before! It’s not a question of weather or not the adhesive is physically suitable for use on chipboard; more a case of how rigid the floor is, how well the chipboard is fixed & how long your tiled floor is likely to last afterwards! I won’t tile onto it because I believe it can’t be relied on as a sound base; even more so if it’s not the green, moisture resistant variety. IMO its not much better than MDF!

 

[curium]

Yer I've been conflicted about this for some time now. As mentioned above I was initially advised that I could get away with it as the floor was in good nick and the area small. Since joining this forum I have become increasingly educated that many people see this as an absolute no-no but I'm a DIYer with limited experience and I was worried that successfully lifting the floor and replacing it would be beyond my capabilities given the time pressures.

BAL have given me a way out by explicitly stating that their fastflex product can be used to tile direct to chipboard.

If it lasts 2-3 years I'll be reasonably happy as domestically I'll have more time to look into taking the ideal route.