Hi,

I'm a plumber by trade and doing up a bathroom..my bathroom.

Now I am being forced by stupid loyalty to get my mate since school to do the tiling and could never get away with getting someone else in.

Thing is..my mate is a bit dim.

Now I am installing a walk in shower, bath double basin and wall hung toilet into this bathroom.

Is it possible if I list out what I plan to do and you experienced tilers tell me if im warm, hot or bloody freezing.

Ok..so Ive taken up floorboards and layed down 18mm WBP softwood ply

I'm going to use a pre made former under the shower 900x900 and use a tanking kit.

I am going to cover the entire tiled area with Wickes fleecing membrane - floor and walls and cement board where the shower meets the tiled stud wall.

What should I use to prime the ply? - my mate uses PVA usually

Im putting in 4sqm of heating mat..what comes first the membrane or heating mat?

Is any old waterproof grout ok or should i be looking out for something else?

I also plan to shove some silicone in all the gaps around the ply before laying the membrane.

Any help is greatly appreciated and if any of you need advice on your boiler then just ask.

Mark
15 years boiler engineer

I take it your "MATE" thinks hes a tiler, he uses PVA, enough said.

Grout is not waterproof its water resistant, it will not break down when in contact with water.

Have a read through other threads & you will pick up everything you need to know, you have came to the right place as this forum is a god send for anyone that wants to know any aspect of tiling.

Welcome along, show your mate this site also!!

Hello Mark and welcome...

I like the Dim bit.. .. poor lad..

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Your dim mate hasn't got a clue mate, this is going to end in huge amounts of tears and end up costing you a lot of pennies if you are not very very careful.

Do not use PVA as a primer on anything... ever. Here is a link to a post regarding pva as a primer
P.V.A. Versus Primers


I would over board the Ply with a 6mm backer board and then tank this also.

What tiles are you planning to use?

here is a link to post on tiling directly on to ply

Plywood floors...

All this would be done after I phoned a tiler to come and do the work

and Good Luck!

Dim.?


See i was right about tilers.


Gary the plumber.

Originally Posted by Gazebo

Dim.?


See i was right about tilers.


Gary the plumber.

.......

Originally Posted by Gazebo

Dim.?


See i was right about tilers.

Gary the plumber.

waiting for the abuse....

Its alright, they didnt understand what you said

Hi Mark.

You are on the right track for the prep work. be sure to put in extra noggins under the ply on perimeter joints etc.

Then over board with 6mm hardibacker or similar.

Tank it 1st then lay your ufh mat.


Be sure to use a ploymer modified adhesive (spf) or rapid set.


Go for a grout with a build in additive. Mapei ultracolour or Bal Microflex, ardex and many others.

Good Luck


Gary

plumbingsolutions@ntlworld.com

Originally Posted by Rich

Its alright, they didnt understand what you said

I rest my case your honour.

Gary us tilers have got a good sense of humour, we bloody need it

welcome!

Originally Posted by Phil Hobson

Gary us tilers have got a good sense of humour, we bloody need it

Oh I know you tilers have a good sense of humour...

Hi mark , check out my bathroom thread link in my sig.... I've done similar to your plans so may help.

OK lets do this installation plumber style.
overboard with 6mm ply and nail id down
PVA everything
silicone the corners no need for expensive tanking kits
use standard adhesive on the floor and make it flexible by adding PVA
use tubed adhesive on the walls this will be ok as the tiles are only 700 by 300
it is not important what grout you use as the whole thing will leak anyway
plumbers I've **** em

Originally Posted by deanotile

OK lets do this installation plumber style.
overboard with 6mm ply and nail id down
PVA everything
silicone the corners no need for expensive tanking kits
use standard adhesive on the floor and make it flexible by adding PVA
use tubed adhesive on the walls this will be ok as the tiles are only 700 by 300
it is not important what grout you use as the whole thing will leak anyway
plumbers I've **** em

i think thats what happened to 20sqm on a deck i had a look at a couple of years ago. the owners had just bought the place and wanted to know why the joints were cracked and if i could just replace the grout. i could pick up every tile by hand from a plywood deck. the adhesive was stuck well to the tile but it came clean off the ply. funny thing was the adhesive had a very thin layer with the wood grain of the ply stuck to it. i would say it was a chemical reaction with chemicals in the ply and chemicals in the adhesive. this delamination will happen every time moisture is introduced to the wood. i wont fix to ply myself at all and really, there are plenty of backerboards available there is no excuse. it cost them $4k to rip it all up and start again even then had to wait about 2 months of summer to dry out the ply. lay tile and slate underlay (similar to hardiebacker)and waterproofed all of it before laying.

Originally Posted by deanotile

OK lets do this installation plumber style.
overboard with 6mm ply and nail id down
PVA everything
silicone the corners no need for expensive tanking kits
use standard adhesive on the floor and make it flexible by adding PVA
use tubed adhesive on the walls this will be ok as the tiles are only 700 by 300
it is not important what grout you use as the whole thing will leak anyway
plumbers I've **** em

Oh no not the old tiler v plumber cobblers....

Originally Posted by Gazebo

Oh no not the old tiler v plumber cobblers....

m8 it is not even funny i have had all of the above and today the plumber on site was telling me about the job he was doing 20m floor he is using 3mm ply then he is going to PVA the ply then he is going to put SLC on top of the ply so he dose not need to use flexible adhesive. I just sat there gob smacked.

Did you leave him your card Deano...

Originally Posted by whitebeam

Did you leave him your card Deano...

just left him to it. to be honest i am in no position to to start slagging people off on that job.

Has to be said that tilers do tend to stick to their trade, there seems to be very few plumbers that dont "tile" (I use that term incredibly loosely).
I still cant understand why they think that it is so easy? Can somebody help me out with that one? Why do plumbers do it?

The job I have just finished, I was laying a decoupling membrane. The plumber says "whats that then?" I told him and he replied with "nah, I just put ply down"

This is after the best line in the world "I do a bit of tiling"

Now you know why you can never get a plumber, there too busy trying to put tiles on, greedy bleepers.

I do the plastering for a plumber and used to do his tiling, as he's a bit slow on his own work i see none of the tiling..

As factual as the posts above are, I think we have drifted away from the OP's questions .

I don't think your mate is much of a tiler and I would find a reason not to use him if I was you.

The floor needs to be deflection (bounce) free, walls need to be flat and rigid, and properly tanked (I don't know anything about the Wickes fleece) before tiling commences. Porous substrates should be primed with an acrylic primer and use a flexible cement based adhesive.

Search the forum for advice and you will be fine.
Good luck,

Daz

Sum =
Mates + jobs at own house ( that are usually done cheap ) = trouble / potential fall outs

Solution = pay somebody else = keep a friend