Sorry to go over old ground but I need to be absolutely clear I've done/am doing this right.

Floor

1) Strengthen floor by adding noggins every 300mm.

2) Lay 25mm WBP ply direct onto joists after having coated it on both sides and all edges with Mapei Primer G, leaving small gap around perimeter in case of expansion. Screw down with Spax flooring screws every 300mm at most.

3) Lay either Durabase or Ditra membrane with flexible adhesive (Mapei Keraquick)

4) Lay underfloor heating mat and cover with Keraquick and 30 x 60 porcelain tiles.

Walls

1) Green moisture resistant plasterboard already installed (before I found this site and saw advice about cement boards).

Joints taped and filled but boards are untreated.....do I need to prime the plasterboard with the same Primer G I bought for the floors? When I decorate usually in a normal 'dry' room, I seal the plasterboard with Dulux sealer before I paint or wallpaper....is the Primer G basically the same idea?

2) Dunlop shower tanking kits (2) bought (again before I saw this site) for use around the bath to cover whole wall and behind overbath shower. Are these ok to use over walls treated with Primer G (if that's what I'm supposed to do?)

3) Tile room using Mapei Keraquick and grout with Mapei Ultra Colour.




So does that look ok or have I missed something out / done something wrong? I'm out of my comfort zone here and kinda need a lot of (repetitive ) handholding, lol.

I wish I'd found you lot a couple of weeks ago, you'd have saved me a lot of time/headaches/wasted money. I really appreciate your time and advice.....especially since you've probably answered the same questions a million times before.

i would not put the heatmat directly on the ditra, i would slc the ditra then lay the heatmat and slc again.

then tile away as normal, giving you no heat spots or the difficulty of tiling over heat mats in one hit.

Thanks.

Embarrassingly, I have to ask ....slc?

Self leveling compound - the one you want as you are getting mapei is FIBREPLAN.

goodluck!

Floor

1) Strengthen floor by adding noggins every 300mm.

2) Lay 25mm WBP ply direct onto joists after having coated it on both sides and all edges with Mapei Primer G, leaving small gap around perimeter in case of expansion. Screw down with Spax flooring screws every 300mm at most.

3) Lay either Durabase or Ditra membrane with flexible adhesive (Mapei Keraquick)

4) SLC Durabase or Ditra membrane.

5) Lay heatmat.

6) SLC heamat

this will leave you with a flat concrete floor to tile onto, and as a bonus if you get a tile lipping you can lift it without pulling all the heat mat about (a real pain) and you will have 100% coverage of the wires.. so no hot/cold spots!!!

Originally Posted by TiredGill

Thanks.

Embarrassingly, I have to ask ....slc?

We often call it latex as well as self levelling compound. Best stuff (if you just look in a tile shop) is the 20kg bags of latex powder and a bottle of white admix liquid.

you can also do iy this way:

you pays yer money yer takes yer choices!

Everything is ok but the ufh part...IMHO...

I would lay the UFH onto the ply and slc over that....then lay the ditra....by doing it this way , it is the best way to get full benefit of the uncoupling feature of the membrane..

And if a tile needs replacing it you don't have the risk of damaging the ufh....and the channels in the membrane distribute the heat more evenly...

Originally Posted by dagger

you can also do iy this way:

you pays yer money yer takes yer choices!

Nice pic but wrong info...that is from schluter.com and not the uk site which shows different adhesives....see where it says thinset instead of adhesive..and also states to use un-modified which in the uk we can use modified..( flexi)

Lol....you tilers earn your money, don't you? It's a labourious process. Thanks again, will get OH to have a look in TileGiant for slc when he picks up the rest of the tiles and adhesive etc.Does the rest seem ok....walls and type of adhesive being used (Keraquick)? The shop did say something about adding something to the Keraquick to make it a 2 part adhesive but also said they thought it wasn't needed.

You can add latex plus to the keraquick to make in an S2 adhesive rather than an S1...but not needed in your case IMO..

i also have to ask why are you using a decoupler in the first place?
are you tiling with limestone or another natural product?

Originally Posted by Dave

Nice pic but wrong info...that is from schluter.com and not the uk site which shows different adhesives....see where it says thinset instead of adhesive..and also states to use un-modified which in the uk we can use modified..( flexi)

agreed dave it was for visual purposes only.

as in put down heatmat on ply, slc with fibreplan, ditra, and tile!

personally i would only use the decoupler if it was limestone, trav etc. or the ply was in loads of bits!!

UFH and ply...i would use one all the time....lateral stress can crack any tile...might be over kill to some but i would rather walk away from a job knowing it was going to last years..

Originally Posted by dagger

i also have to ask why are you using a decoupler in the first place?
are you tiling with limestone or another natural product?

The tiles are porcelain. I thought it was better to help guard against any possible cracking problems and moisture getting to the ply?

Is my 'belt and braces' approach becoming 'belt, braces and straightjacket'?

Originally Posted by Dave

UFH and ply...i would use one all the time....lateral stress can crack any tile...might be over kill to some but i would rather walk away from a job knowing it was going to last years..

i agree if you can go for the ditra put it in!,
but 10mm of fibreplan over 25mm ply strenthend by the heatmat mesh (as a binder) i think dietra is overkill, that said if i had it i would use it so,

revised

1. over board 25mm ply screwed at 30mm centres,
2. lay heatmat and level with fibreplan
3. install dietra with keraquick
4.level ditra with fibreplan/keraquick
5. tile away!
6. grout with ultracolour plus

job done 10yr guarentee from me and dave!

Now go and have a beer, you deserve one.....................talking of beer, wheres the drinkies post Dave?

Originally Posted by dagger

job done 10yr guarentee from me and dave!

And you've no idea how much I wish it was you and Dave doing it! This will take me ages, lol. I'm a keen worker but a slow one.

I hope you post us some piccies to see..when complete..please....

Originally Posted by TiredGill

And you've no idea how much I wish it was you and Dave doing it! This will take me ages, lol. I'm a keen worker but a slow one.

Honestly, as daunting as it seems, just go for it! Plan everything before you start and make sure you set out properly, but when you get to the tiling, go for it. Just bare in mind, if you put something in and you arent happy, take it up again and restart. Everything is fixable!

How are you going to tackle the doorway? Are there existing architraves? Instead of trying to cut the shape of the architrave, make your life easier by cutting the bottom off it, so there is room to put the tile under.

Anything you are not sure of, just ask.

Originally Posted by TiredGill

And you've no idea how much I wish it was you and Dave doing it! This will take me ages, lol. I'm a keen worker but a slow one.

far better than being a fast, uncaring one Gill

Originally Posted by Bolter

How are you going to tackle the doorway? Are there existing architraves?

Haven't got a clue.

I've been thinking about that today...I moved the whole wall back a bit into the hall, so I could have a slightly bigger bathroom and I made the new doorway over a bit on the new wall. So far the door plate and architraves haven't yet been cut, the stud framing is still visible. I should really put them in first before the tiling so there is something to tile up to, I think.

Originally Posted by TiredGill

And you've no idea how much I wish it was you and Dave doing it! This will take me ages, lol. I'm a keen worker but a slow one.

You shouldn't be thinking like this buddy. So far you are doing everything right. Coming on here and asking those who know. You will learn loads from this and although it will stress you out as I'm sure it already has you cant put a price on 'hands on learning'.

Take loads of pictures from start to finish and post on here once your done.

as gill is tiling herslf
wouldnt mapei keraflex maxi be better than keraquick for tiling the walls as the pot life is greater and adjustment time is longer than kerquick
chris

Can't get Fibre Plan, OH has got Latex Plan instead, is that still ok as a slc or has he got the wrong thing?

it will do, but you can only pour 10mm deep in one go!!

should be enough for your situation, make sure the ply is a level as possible!

It's fast setting as well the latex plan...

Aaarrgghhh! He's also got 2 different batch numbers for the floor tiles. Hopefully there will be enough of one number to do the floor and the other number can go on the bath panel and it wont be noticeable.

What's that saying about if you want something done, do it yourself?!

I may delay starting until tomorrow, today can be reserved for pulling my hair out.

Hi Gill, two different batch numbers can give you different shades/sizes, if you are keeping them (to be honest, the tile shop should have supplied the same batch) you may have to open/close up your grout lines in places to keep everything in sync, allowing one line to run out will cause you more problems as you progress through the job. Can you not get matching numbers?

Yep as above....Do not accept mixed batches...