lo all,i have an old customer asking me to tile his new extension which is being built in december

the floors floating and he claims it will be fine to tile,i dont generally touch floating floors however if its a new extension they have a blank canvas to work with,is there any spec i can get them to add to make this floor much stronger? not really come across this as of yet

why do they want a floater Jamie?

no idea doug,i think this is what the builder is suggesting in the plans

he also said the builder says you can tile on it lol,to which i replied i would look into this to see if there is any way we can get a certain spec to him for a floating floor,,i only asked as i think i remember seeing something on here few days ago about spec for floating floors and how to make them stronger but i cant find it

why dont they just screed the floor?

Originally Posted by kilty55

lo all,i have an old customer asking me to tile his new extension which is being built in december

the floors floating and he claims it will be fine to tile,i dont generally touch floating floors however if its a new extension they have a blank canvas to work with,is there any spec i can get them to add to make this floor much stronger? not really come across this as of yet

Yes.. Screed it..

Originally Posted by doug boardley

why do they want a floater Jamie?

I always thought that was something that wouldn't flush away!
Still if you've got the chance to change the specification, the customer will appreciate it later on.

floating floor in my world = Karndean or i dont touch it

don't be mad jamie,get him to change the floor or bodyswerve it

My advice would be to get the customer to screed, if possible. However, I'll put my hands up and admit that I have tiled a couple of floating floors.

One was 35sqm with a 3 tile porcelain pattern and the other was a 3 tile pattern with 25mm thick sandstone. The porcelain floor was over a year ago and I am still receiving recommendations from the customer. In both cases I insisted on overboarding with "No More Ply" and I used Ardex 7001 (tile to wood, super dooper flexible) adhesive. It should also be noted that the floors had been previously tiled prior to the customers engaging my services.

builder is technically correct - you can tile on to a existing floating floor if you take the necessary precautions -overboarding, checking load bearing capacity, etc. - but why he would specify a floating floor knowing the client wants tiles is a strange one. I'm with the rest of you on this - screed it should be.

Originally Posted by ChrisKemp

builder is technically correct - you can tile on to a existing floating floor if you take the necessary precautions -overboarding, checking load bearing capacity, etc. - but why he would specify a floating floor knowing the client wants tiles is a strange one. I'm with the rest of you on this - screed it should be.

how will overboarding negate any deflection in a floating floor?

Won't negate deflection and the type of 'floating floor' will determine what improvement in rigidity and control of local movement can be found. Worked with a german/turkish team last year in Sofia where existing floors were 22m TG chipboard, glued, overboarded with a 12mm construction cement board (could have been external aquapanel), and a 2 part flexible, adhesive used. It wasn't the first they had done - these were referrals from previous job in the same apartment block. Had a look at one they did two or three years before and it appeared to be holding up OK. But when its still at planning stage like the original post stated, its clearly better to get the client to specify screed.

Kilty whats the make up of the floating floor if you dont mind as there are a few different versions around

Obviously its best if its screeded but if the builders dead set against it see if he'd be willing to put thin joists in to secure the chipboard, if not and you've pointed out the possible future problems to the customer and the builder and you can't afford to turn work down then i'd be inclined to do it.
I thought lateral movement of the whole floor rather than deflection was the problem with floating floors?

i popped a note through the customers door yesterday for him to call me when he gets a chance so i can discuss the floor while its still at the planning stage,he didnt sound to pleased for some reason so time will tell whether i get to giver my opinion on the floor

Originally Posted by redlee

Obviously its best if its screeded but if the builders dead set against it see if he'd be willing to put thin joists in to secure the chipboard, if not and you've pointed out the possible future problems to the customer and the builder and you can't afford to turn work down then i'd be inclined to do it.
I thought lateral movement of the whole floor rather than deflection was the problem with floating floors?

Deflection as in 'bounce' is worse than lateral movement, with lateral you can use a decoupling membrane to alleviate movement, deflection has to be eliminated completely.

Originally Posted by diamondtiling

Deflection as in 'bounce' is worse than lateral movement, with lateral you can use a decoupling membrane to alleviate movement, deflection has to be eliminated completely.

Agreed, but the problem with floating floors is the fact they move sideways not deflection?

Originally Posted by redlee

Agreed, but the problem with floating floors is the fact they move sideways not deflection?

floating floors can move in any direction Lee and bounce is a particular problem with them, what makes you think that deflection is not a problem mate?

Originally Posted by diamondtiling

floating floors can move in any direction Lee and bounce is a particular problem with them, what makes you think that deflection is not a problem mate?

The ones i've seen have been chipboard laid on thick insulation Kingspan/Celotex type and the floating/lateral movement aspect has been the issue not the deflection.

Originally Posted by jay

Kilty whats the make up of the floating floor if you dont mind as there are a few different versions around

oh and by the way tiles are a solid object and are designed to go over a solid substrate they have very little tolerance for movement in any direction

just to add to the disagreement

still waiting Kilty