Hello All,
My mum had a flood in her kitchen with the result being the wood chipboard was discarded so now all she has is the foam and plastic sheeting. Any signs of damp has been removed, now we have decided to put down new wooden underlay ourselves and get a tiler in to fit the ceramic tiles. My question is what to use? Do we go for what was there before, aka the chipboard, or would external plywood be better? I understand we would need to use a water sealant if we used wood again. I have read about Aquapanels but my mum doesn't think this will work with the foam as a base? If anyone could give us some ideas of what to use that would be great!
Thanks for your help.
Rozz

Hi rozz......

THat is classed as a floating floor and IMO should not be tiled.....

rozz

you can use WISA ply flooring which is 22mm thick and is 600mm(W)x2400mm(L) and is tongue and grooved so its glued together and is floating and does need 10mm expansion gap left all round the perimeter (are the kitchen units still in place)?
you can tile floating floors with the suitable flexable adhesives and grouts.
(here comes the debate)
the floating floor bit isnt really a diyers type job though to be honest with you as it needs to cover the entire floor so it sounds like the kitchen may need to be removed and refitted also!
why did you not get your mothers insurance involved as they should have a contractor who could sort the whole thing for her?

Originally Posted by marc1106

rozz

you can use WISA ply flooring which is 22mm thick and is 600mm(W)x2400mm(L) and is tongue and grooved so its glued together and is floating and does need 10mm expansion gap left all round the perimeter (are the kitchen units still in place)?
you can tile floating floors with the suitable flexable adhesives and grouts.
(here comes the debate)
the floating floor bit isnt really a diyers type job though to be honest with you as it needs to cover the entire floor so it sounds like the kitchen may need to be removed and refitted also!
why did you not get your mothers insurance involved as they should have a contractor who could sort the whole thing for her?

A floating floor should have ZERO deflection before any tiling is done and i haven't come across one yet that has.....

If they are going to re-do properly then the floor can be framed with the insulation inbetween the framing and then fix the new floor covering to this...deflection free then and can be tiled...

fair enough, im not the font of all knowledge, i just know that ive done 3 floating floors to date and have had no issues with grout or adhesion(is that spelt right).
Marc

Heya,

Thanks for your help, it has made such a difference! We plan to take all the units out, it sounds like she would be better off with a hardware floor than tiles, though she is pretty set on ceramic so i will print this info out for her.

Thanks again
Rozz