DIY Bathroom Diy Job - Tile Advice

[Chucky_Chan]

Hi all,

I've just joined to ask for advice on my DIY job, any help greatly appreciated.

I'm doing a bathroom floor and shower walls.

The floor is wood effect herringbone and the question I have is do I run a full tile off the corner of the shower tray for neatness or should I centre a tile in the room and work off that? See below image of planned layout.

The shower is aquapanelled but there is a belly in the middle of the wall and it is out by 12mm over 1 metre at the base and also by 5mm at the top. Can I build this out with adhesive?

Cheers

Chucky

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[Spud]

Its better to start off with straight walls packing out with adhesive is not ideal

 

[Chucky_Chan]

Thanks for the response.

I've got to the point of no return now on this though. How about building it out with tanking or another material, would that be acceptable? I'm not putting heavy tiles up. Removing the aquapanel is not really a viable option as the surronding wall has been skimmed and that would need redoing. If I removed the boards.

Any advice on the floor tile layout?

Chucky

 

[Rich Midge]

Cement based addy should pack out to 12mm but it makes the job alot harder trying to ensure 100% coverage. Check the bags you're using, it'll say on it it's limitations. Brave diyer taking on herringbone! Floor layout looks ok, are the walls square to the tray? If the tray is out of square with the surrounding walls and you go full from the tray it could end up looking all over the place.

 

[Rich Midge]

Also what is the subfloor? Can't make it out from the picture, looks almost like it could be painted.

 

[Chucky_Chan]

Hi Rich,

Good to hear that it's possible to build out with adhesive. I got Mapei Rapid set flexible grey from Wickes on offer 3 for 2 and extra 10% off, will this be ok? I was planning on using it like a skim coat and running a feather edge over it and long level to ensure flatness. I was then gong to leave this to go off for good few days and then use adhesive as normal over the top.

The floor is new wbp 18mm. Needing a good scrape as is covered in paint and pb adhesive. Also priming.

Cheers

 

[Chucky_Chan]

Walls are fairly square btw.

 

[Rich Midge]

I'm not a Mapei user so can't really give an educated comment but what you're planning sounds fine. No need leave it days, if its a rapid set it'll be off in a few hours. Is the ply an overlay or have you fitted it direct to joists. The back, face and all edges will need to be primed. There should really have been extra noggins put in between the joists to brace it. You'll also need to shift all the paint off it. There's not many tilers out there, myself included that fix to ply anymore, there's far superior products available. I'd consider a backer board on top or a decoupler, either way you need to take out any bounce you may have in the floor.

 

[Chucky_Chan]

The floor is solid, no bounce noticeable. I bolted 5x5 batons along the top of joists to raise floor for fire regs on spot lamps (recommended by sparky) so they are solid.
The problem with being a DIYer is listening to supposed experts in the DIY shops/merchants tellng me tiling straight onto plywood is industry standard

 

[Rich Midge]

I've tiled hundreds of floors direct to ply without an issue.........but not for about 10 years or more. Like I said earlier, if you can stretch to a backer board, Marmox is my choice but Hardie or No More Ply will work fine or a decoupler then that's the route I'd suggest. Moisture is your enemy with ply so make sure it's properly primed.

 

[Chucky_Chan]

Thanks,

Budget is no issue for materials and I 'm five mins drive from suppliers, issue I have is that if I add decoupling then it will raise the floor by an additional 5-6mm? This will put the toilet cistern at an awkward level on my panelling as I hadn't planned for an increase in floor height :/

Also, lots of people say PVA is fine for sealing ply subfloor pre tiling but others say it doesn't work at all. There's so many different opinions online it's hard to Know what is right/wrong and what is overkill.

 

[Old Mod]

Thanks,

Budget is no issue for materials and I 'm five mins drive from suppliers, issue I have is that if I add decoupling then it will raise the floor by an additional 5-6mm? This will put the toilet cistern at an awkward level on my panelling as I hadn't planned for an increase in floor height :/

Also, lots of people say PVA is fine for sealing ply subfloor pre tiling but others say it doesn't work at all. There's so many different opinions online it's hard to Know what is right/wrong and what is overkill.

DO NOT USE PVA!
Use the primer recommended by adhesive manufacturer of SBR only.
PVA breaks down when it comes into contact with moisture and is definately not suitable.
If you want a low profile decoupler you ca get something like Tilemaster's anti fracture mat or Bal's rapid mat, they're less than 1mm thick.

 

[Rich Midge]

There's no such thing as overkill, it's just belt and braces. PVA is a definite no in any tiling situation. A quick search on this forum will give you the info you need on PVA, it's a question often asked. Tilesmaster, Bal and Norcros all do an anti crack mat less than 2mm thick, i think Mapei do one also but my knowledge of Mapei products is slim.

 

[Rich Midge]

DO NOT USE PVA!
Use the primer recommended by adhesive manufacturer of SBR only.
PVA breaks down when it comes into contact with moisture and is definately not suitable.
If you want a low profile decoupler you ca get something like Tilemaster's anti fracture mat or Bal's rapid mat, they're less than 1mm thick.

Beat me to it by about 30 seconds!

 

[Old Mod]

Haha sorry rich!