30 yrs ago we screwed 3/4" wbp to timber floors to take out deflection. it was a long established and well known method

everyone did it and the customers never baulked at the cost

so why on earth are people using thinner ply, do they have even the remotest idea why they are overboarding and where is all this miss information coming from

hiya mike,plenty tilers round my way use 9mm ply,end of the day i think the customers quite often look for the cheapest route

It's down to people cutting corners trying to save money

Think the main issue is to do with overall floor height. The majority of customers and a surprising number of builders are more concerned about a step into the room than they are about their tiles lifting.

The cost isnt much different really, 9mm to 12mm. Personally i like to use 15 or 18 but have been using 12 for the last 2 years.

A firm local to Mike and I use 9mm and they are quite a large tile showroom and 'fixers' (see how i didnt use the term tiler)

I also think a lot of it is when people do it and it doesnt fail so they carry on doing it. Its the same with tanking, i never tanked showers before and always used to use tubbed addy on my tiling. The jobs are still there and going strong

Also the worst is, that a lot of ply is imported from china and it leaches resins and the tile adhesive does not stick... give me cement boards any day now..

tilers and customers both do it to cut costs,theres BS for a reason,to make sure work lasts for the intended duration and peoples safety not just because someone wanted to write up books of silly rules

30 years ago did'nt see many people tiling boarded floors, it seemed to be vinyl stuff

30 years ago my mother was just about to have me.......

Originally Posted by david campbell

30 years ago my mother was just about to have me.......

Och he's just a wee bairn! And there was i think he was in his 50's. Sorry David

I agree with Dave its all far eastern ply now. I picked up some 12mm a few months ago and could easily lift it with one hand. The wood was very blond and was laready starting to delaminate. Needless to say i didnt buy it