New flooring over a mix of tiles and floorboards?

[MrTeeny]

Hi, I'm looking to instal a new floor in our kitchen but it's a mix of a tiled area in the corner and floorboards. Not sure what the final floors gonna be yet what are my best options?


Don't fancy hacking up the tiles as that'll throw up extra problems as it's most likely concrete or similar under there so will be a problem with fixings unless I'm tiling. Don't want to raise the floor too high although I'm aware leaving the current tiles will raise things somewhat.

I was thinking of maybe replacing the floorboards with ply then levelling the tile height to fit for a solid level base to start from.
Thanks

 

[lymmranger]

Sounds like a good plan

....6mm ply to the floor boards - ring shank nails or screws every 15cm

...screed the tiles

....fit/lay any floor you like

simples

 

[Richard C]

….6mm ply to the floor boards - ring shank nails or screws every 15cm

Minimum overboard when tiling is 12mm although other flooring materials will accept much less. Always use screws, never nails.

…..screed the tiles

Depending on the tiles, you may have problems & you cannot lay a conventional sand/cement screed less than around 40mm thick, it will fail; bonded screed or thinset only.

....fit/lay any floor you like

Unfortunately not tiles; if you attempt to tile over different adjacent floor substrates, the tiles will crack where the two floors meet. You will more than likely need an expansion joint or at least an uncoupling membrane & I would advise you have a look to see exactly what you have under the tiles first; you need to decide if your tiling as it will dictate what you do next. Read tiling sticky & forum archive posts for more info, it may prevent you making potentially disastrous & expensive mistakes. What is the relevant size of the tiled/boarded areas?

 

[MrTeeny]

Thanks for the advice I was thinking of completly replacing the boards with thicker ply rather than overboarding as it's not a big kitchen and it'd let me level thing up.

Would it always crack at the joint between the different materials? It'd be next to where cabinets are so no real traffic over the join.

Would it be a possble option for me to remove the last row of tiles and let the ply cover than area. The tiles and height of the floorboards are pretty much the same. It's where some cabinets will be so only the last row of tiles is in the way so as long as the height is too high I've no need to level of floor under that whole area.

Or would it be an option to 12mm ply over both to remove any different base material if the missus insists on tiles

 

[Richard C]

Thanks for the advice I was thinking of completly replacing the boards with thicker ply rather than overboarding as it's not a big kitchen and it'd let me level thing up.

If tiling, I would usually recommend replacing rather than over board anyway but the floor must be rigid & the ply thickness you need will depend on the floor joist size/pitch/span. In a heavy load/traffic area such as kitchen usually 25mm WBP but sometimes additional strengthening of the joists is also required, depends on the floor construction.

Would it always crack at the joint between the different materials? It'd be next to where cabinets are so no real traffic over the join.

Unfortunately it’s almost a stone bonk certainty; it has nothing to do with traffic over the join but the difference in thermal expansion/contraction rates of the two different types of floor.

Would it be a possble option for me to remove the last row of tiles and let the ply cover than area. The tiles and height of the floorboards are pretty much the same. It's where some cabinets will be so only the last row of tiles is in the way so as long as the height is too high I've no need to level of floor under that whole area.

That may work if the area is small & depending on tile size. The ply should not be rigidly fixed to the concrete (are you sure it’s concrete under there?) but must be fully supported or it will flex & crack. If you’re going down the tile route, post more info about the floor/joist construction, floor sizes etc in the tiling forum for more detailed advice; pictures are always good.

Is that a boiler sitting on the tiles?

 

[mypetearthling]

Is that a boiler sitting on the tiles?

Looks like a freestanding oven...


K

 

[lymmranger]

….6mm ply to the floor boards - ring shank nails or screws every 15cm

Minimum overboard when tiling is 12mm although other flooring materials will accept much less. Always use screws, never nails.

…..screed the tiles

Depending on the tiles, you may have problems & you cannot lay a conventional sand/cement screed less than around 40mm thick, it will fail; bonded screed or thinset only.

....fit/lay any floor you like

Unfortunately not tiles; if you attempt to tile over different adjacent floor substrates, the tiles will crack where the two floors meet. You will more than likely need an expansion joint or at least an uncoupling membrane & I would advise you have a look to see exactly what you have under the tiles first; you need to decide if your tiling as it will dictate what you do next. Read tiling sticky & forum archive posts for more info, it may prevent you making potentially disastrous & expensive mistakes. What is the relevant size of the tiled/boarded areas?

ooops

Correction - any flooring apart from ceramic type tiles

...I assumed he meant vinyl (dangerous word "assumed" )

 

[Richard C]

ooops

Correction - any flooring apart from ceramic type tiles

...I assumed he meant vinyl (dangerous word "assumed" )

 

[MrTeeny]

Thanks for the advice I was thinking of completly replacing the boards with thicker ply rather than overboarding as it's not a big kitchen and it'd let me level thing up.

If tiling, I would usually recommend replacing rather than over board anyway but the floor must be rigid & the ply thickness you need will depend on the floor joist size/pitch/span. In a heavy load/traffic area such as kitchen usually 25mm WBP but sometimes additional strengthening of the joists is also required, depends on the floor construction.

Would it always crack at the joint between the different materials? It'd be next to where cabinets are so no real traffic over the join.

Unfortunately it’s almost a stone bonk certainty; it has nothing to do with traffic over the join but the difference in thermal expansion/contraction rates of the two different types of floor.

Would it be a possble option for me to remove the last row of tiles and let the ply cover than area. The tiles and height of the floorboards are pretty much the same. It's where some cabinets will be so only the last row of tiles is in the way so as long as the height is too high I've no need to level of floor under that whole area.

That may work if the area is small & depending on tile size. The ply should not be rigidly fixed to the concrete (are you sure it’s concrete under there?) but must be fully supported or it will flex & crack. If you’re going down the tile route, post more info about the floor/joist construction, floor sizes etc in the tiling forum for more detailed advice; pictures are always good.

Is that a boiler sitting on the tiles?

Thanks again, I think I'll go down the route of assuming it'll tiled as it shouldn't be too much extra work and 25mm isn't much higher than the existing boards. The expansion makes sense so I'll have to check under the current tiles see what's there. I'm assuming it's something like concrete although probably just building rubble screeded over. It's a small area no real idea why it's there as it's not structural maybe an old pantry or something. Underneath it's just a brick structure thats been filled in the middle probably no bigger than 6foot by 3 foot.

It was just a free standing cooker like mypetearthling suggested was previously a boiler on there so could have been just for that I suppose rather than have it standing on floorboards.