ridge in middle of bathroom floor

[gimchee]

Hi - layed two lengths of wbp in the bathroom, but due the extra 3mm thickness in one board I'm left with a ridge running down the middle of floor. Will underlay and engineered wood flooring cover the ridge ok or will I have to try and smooth/sand it out?

Tony

 

[gcol]

Forgive me if I'm reading this wrong..... but did you just say that you put down two different thicknesses of ply down on your floor and are wanting to know how to level them out?

 

[gimchee]

gcol - I ordered to peices of 18mm ply but one of the peices was slightly fatter that the other - about 21mm. I'm thinking it won't be too noticeable with underlay over the top. What are your thoughts? I don't want my floating wooden floor to be spoilt!

Tony

 

[gcol]

What I can't understand is why:
1. you would need to "order" ply - you can get it anywhere.
2. you noticed that it was different thicknesses and proceeded to fit it.

Take my advice here, take up the thicker piece and get another piece of 18mm to replace it. Your flooring will NOT cover it.

 

[gimchee]

gcol - I appreciate your advice. I can't answer why I proceeded to lay the WBP while knowing about the different thicknesses. It's the first time I've dome anything like this. They cut the peices in the yard and I paid a lot of dosh for it, so I guess it didn't occur to me that I would end up with the ridge as noticeable as it is. I think I'll learn from this, but with a bit of luck I'll get the dodgy peice replaced at no extra cost.

How much should WBP cost by the metre and is it necessary to use it under floating floors in the bathroom? when I ordered it I was going to tile the floor but then I changed my mind because I heard that 18mm wbp may not be sufficient. I was also concerned about the weight load on the bathroom joists, which aren't looking too sturdy. One is loose and another has a huge twist running right the way through it.

Thanks,

Tony

 

[gcol]

An 8' x 4' sheet of 18mm WBP should cost around £30
18mm WBP is perfect for laying tiles on - just ensure that you use flexible adhesive and grout. Powdered not the pre mixed stuff.
Don't worry about the extra weight.

 

[gimchee]

gcol - the shop is refusing to replace the dodgy peice so would you say it's possible to tile over the 2-3mm ridge or should I plane/sand out the ridge?

Tony

 

[gcol]

You could just apply a thicker bed of adhesive to take up the difference. It depends on the size of this ridge and how long it is. You're going to need to feather it out (slope it slightly) so that the ridge isn't noticable. What you need to be aware of is that flexible tile adhesive is pretty expensive so you don't really want to be wasting it by packing out a step. What I can tell you is, if you start a job with poor preparation then it makes the job more difficult and more often than not affects the finished job. I recommend you replace one of the boards and get another to match.
What size of sheet did you get?

 

[gimchee]

980mm by 1700mm cut to size. The ridge is about 2mm. The ply is laid across the joists in two sections, otherwise I might have been able to plane 2mm off the joist or is that crazy man's talk. . So, the options are spend another 30 quid and do the job right or take my chances with feathering out the ridge.

Tony

 

[gcol]

Personally, I'd throw the cut piece back at em and be angry with it.
You'll probably be able to cover a couple of mm with adhesive. If it's 25mm ply you won't. Generally you only come across 18 or 25mm in that range. I'm assuming you can measure here (forgive me for asking). A pencil thickness is around the difference between 18 and 25. If it's this much, forget trying to feather it in with adhesive.

 

[big-all]

can you not fit a sheet of hardboard this comes out at about 3.3mm to pack out the difference
or am i misunderstanding the situation as normal

 

[gcol]

Keep hardboard away from tiles at all costs - it doesn't like moisture. WBP ply or better please.
I'm finding it hard to understand why anyone would want to cobble something together to re-level this floor. Just get another piece of ply the right thickness.

 

[big-all]

Keep hardboard away from tiles at all costs - it doesn't like moisture. WBP ply or better please.
I'm finding it hard to understand why anyone would want to cobble something together to re-level this floor. Just get another piece of ply the right thickness.

well i read it as a floating floor!!!!!!! or have i misunderstood that bit as well

i am also assuning theres been work done to stop it being an easy task to remove it

 

[gcol]

Big-all

gcol - the shop is refusing to replace the dodgy peice so would you say it's possible to tile over the 2-3mm ridge or should I plane/sand out the ridge?

 

[splinter]

Hi - layed two lengths of wbp in the bathroom, but due the extra 3mm thickness in one board I'm left with a ridge running down the middle of floor. Will underlay and engineered wood flooring cover the ridge ok or will I have to try and smooth/sand it out?

Tony