Is marine ply overkill for vinyl tile floor in bathroom?

[Loki7430]

Hi,

Sorry this question is similar to others raised.... I am laying a bathroom floor on the exisiting chipboard. It is fairly level but I was going to put 12mm external ply down and put 3mm vinyl tiles over that (with a thick layer of adhesive, not the ready glued type).

Just checking that, assuming I put them down correctly the vinyl tiles should make it watertight enough and marine ply is not required?

Thanks

 

[Richard C]

You don’t need marine ply with expensive decorative veneers; external ply (or WBP) uses similar waterproof adhesive for the timber veneers so is effectively the same. 12mm WBP would be the minimum thickness for over boarding when laying ceramic tiles; I’m a tiler & no vinyl flooring expert but I would have thought that 6mm would be adequate for vinyl flooring/tiles which, after all, is flexible. If you or your kids intend throwing water around, you will still need to prevent it reaching the ply face (being timber, it will still swell if it gets wet) so you should use an appropriate adhesive that will provide a suitable water resistant barrier or an Acrylic/SBR sealer on the ply but check with the adhesive manufacturer for recommendations/compatibility.

 

[Loki7430]

That is great - thanks

 

[lymmranger]

Richard is correct 6mm ply is ideal, plenty of screws or ring shank nails - you should fix every 4 - 6inches (in all directions).

One thing you should note....

you mention a "thick" layer of adhesive... NO!

suitable adhesives - usually "pressure sensitive acrylic" should be applied very very thin!!!! - you wait till it "goes off" - usually it changes colour from white to clear then apply your tiles - if you put in on thick it will takes days (if not weeks) to cure and will ooze up through the joints (nicest scenario), more likely your tiles will slide all over the place, i.e. you will get out of the bath and "skate" into the radiater