I pulled up the old cracked and loose tiles in my conservatory with a view to re-tiling.

Underneath I found a nasty fibreboard tounge and groove type floor, that seem to be about an inch and a half think. It's got all of about 4 nails holding it down that I can see, and movement around the joints in the board caused the previous tiles to fail. There's a gap all round the edge that's siliconed to seal it from the air gap underneath.

It's all dry and rot free, and there's no flex when I walk on it, although if I smack it with the rubber mallet, dust jumps up a suprising distance away.

I may need to screw the board to the frame underneath.. but how do I find the joists?

I also need to overlay the floor... I can spare about 12mm of height. Would ply or backer board be best? Either way, it's going to double the cost as I guess I'll also need a proper flexible adhesive and grout as well.

Anthing else I need to take into consideration?

Thanks :-)

hi there,is this a floating floor? if it is we dont advise tiling it,

Can you define floating? Sorry, I'm a bit ignorant in such matters

I just had a google, and I suspect it is a floating floor. There is no real method if it being attached to anythign underneath that I can see from the surface, and it has the gap round the edge.

hi tim yes,if thats the case which some conservatories are i would advise tiles,maybe karndean flooring would suit?

sorry i wouldnt advise tiles...oooops

Thanks, I had a look at their website.

I may take the easy route and go for some B&Q TileLOC tile effect laminate - it would save having to ply line still, and mess about with adhesive, which I hate...

They do TileLOC in the slate effect I'm after as well :-)

nice one tim

Thanks for the advice, saved me a lot of time and effort and money... Even if a vinyl or laminate floor lasts half as long, it'll be less than half the price of getting real tiles down properly.

Checkout our Flooring Forum if you need any advice when fitting that.