I'm New, What base for floor tile support?? - TilersForums.co.uk | Tile Forums

ro55_b · 14-07-2008

Hello everyone. My name is John. I have just bought my first home in the midlands and my DIY journey has brought me to the main bathroom which is on the first floor. I am a reasonably experienced DIYer but I am ashamed to say I have never done any tiling. I have just replaced the origional (badly damaged) 18mm tongue and groove floor boards with floor board quality chipboard, screwed down at 300mm centers. The floor now seems fairly solid although will flex if I jump up and down. I intended to cover the floor in 12mm marine ply prior to laying the ceramic floor tiles. However the tile shop I plan to buy the tiles from said I should not use the ply wood but instead use a product they sell called HARDIBACKER. I am unsure of the thickness they recommended but they did say it was thinner than the 12mm ply I planned to use.

My first question is ... should I use just Hardibacker? or just 12mm ply? or 12mm ply and Hardibacker? or something completely different?

And my second question is, one wall I plan to tile is a partision stud wall covered in plaster board, do I also need to cover this wall too with an additional layer prior to tiling.

Many thanks for your help and opinions in advance.

PS the room is 2400mm x 2200mm

Cheers, John.

rossy · 14-07-2008

hardibacker board will be fine mate ...

robbo · 14-07-2008

On the wall just tile straight onto the plasterboard after priming first.......

justlyndon · 14-07-2008

You should be ok with ply mate I would make sure you up you flexability on the adhesive and grout

robbo · 14-07-2008

what size tiles are you putting up on the wall??

**Dave** · 14-07-2008

Hello john and welcome to tilers forums.......if you still have some slight deflection in the floor then do not use the hardi backer 250......

Overboard the floor 12mm and use a 2 part flexible adhesive....but seen as you are very new to tiling you would better off using 18mm ply and a single part adhesive that is slow setting , thus giving you a longer time to work with it.....as for the walls then no additional layers will be needed.

Do you know what tiles you are putting on the walls yet...it will be worth thinking about the weight you will be adding to the walls if choosing large format tiles......

If it makes things easier ..have a look at what you want to put on the walls and floor then let us know and we can advise you what materials to use......

ro55_b · 15-07-2008

Cheers guys. Some great advice.

We (and by that I mean she who must be obeyed!!!) has had a change of heart and so we have just ordered natural stone tiles for the walls which are 12" x 18" and 1/2" thick. These are obviously pretty heavy but the guy in the shop told me to use 10mm aquaboard instead of the plaster board, screwed to the batterns on the partition stud wall. I'm yet to construct the wall so this is no problem, provided you guys recon its suitable?????

For the floor, I'm going to cover it with 12mm ply then 6mm aquaboard (this was going cheap as a stock clearance) then use a flexible adhesive as added safety. I'm using 18" square porcelain floor tiles.

The walls are about 22 sqM with a 5sqM floor.

The same shop guy recommended 4mm grouting on floor and walls.

Any further advice is very welcomed.

Thanks once again. John.

**Dave** · 15-07-2008

Deffo use the backer boards on the walls.....they will take the weight of the stone no probs........

ro55_b · 18-07-2008

Great, thanks Dave. Just one more question... which is prob going to sound pretty silly but, do I lay the floor tiles then the wall tiles so the wall ones rest on to the floor tiles, or do I do the wall tiles first so the floor tiles butt up against the wall ones?

Thanks again.
John

BOYLEY · 25-07-2008

Lay the floor one's first, then the wall tile's on top. Silicone where the tiles meet, after grouting of course, to allow for any movement!

**Dave** · 25-07-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by ro55_b

Great, thanks Dave. Just one more question... which is prob going to sound pretty silly but, do I lay the floor tiles then the wall tiles so the wall ones rest on to the floor tiles, or do I do the wall tiles first so the floor tiles butt up against the wall ones?

Thanks again.
John

Which ever way you find easiest..there is no set way to do it..it's just personal preference...

Once siliconed at the bottom you can never tell anyway....