Advice on tiling kitchen floor.

[wynny]

Hi, I need some advice on tiling my kitchen floor. We have just had the kitchen extended and its now been plastered and the floor levelled. We now decided that we want electric UFH and are wondering what is the best way to install it. Although we should have embedded it into the floor leveller to start with, we didnt think so do we now lay the UFH down and level again then tile the whole floor OR get the units/island in and fit the UFH around these and just use adhesive to lay the tiles straight onto the current levelled floor? Any advice?

Mike

[Sir Ramic]

At very least you need to mark exactly where the units meet the floor as you dont want the heating mats under units/island. This could cause a hazard and could lead to failure of the floor due to hot spots.
The mats should be encapsulated in a levelling compund which is sutable for heated floors. Then when dry the tiles can be laid.
Most under floor heating mats are aound 3.2mm. With leveller over the top you should be adding about 5mm to your floor as it is now.

[faithhealer]

Give our sponsors a ring, Uheat, very helpful over the phone

[Scott]

You can lay most under floor heating (ufh) in the adhesive but it is better to put them it the leveller (slc)

Personally id put the units in and leave the island but but mark where its going. Lay the ufh and the slc over the top but around where the island is. There is little point no heating anywhere your not going to walk or under units.

Some people like to tile the whole floor soits under the units. From a kitchen fitters perspective (mine!) i think its false economy especially if the tiles are expensive. There is a theory that if ever you change the kitchen then the floor will be reuseable. In todays throw away society i dont think thats always the case and your then restricted to a kitchen that matches your floor.

Edit: beaten to it again!

[Phil Hobson]

At very least you need to mark exactly where the units meet the floor as you dont want the heating mats under units/island. This could cause a hazard and could lead to failure of the floor due to hot spots.
The mats should be encapsulated in a levelling compund which is sutable for heated floors. Then when dry the tiles can be laid.
Most under floor heating mats are aound 3.2mm. With leveller over the top you should be adding about 5mm to your floor as it is now.

That just about sums it up

[wynny]

Good advice thx but still not sure how to tackle it as I want to avoid raising the floor height too much because of the step up from the hall. Any idea what a tiler would charge to lay porcelin tiles down on a kitchen floor about 20 sqmtrs?

[Sir Ramic]

Sorry but we dont discuss pricing in the forum.

[wynny]

OK fair enuff, how about recommendations around Wolverhampton then?

[Sir Ramic]

OK fair enuff, how about recommendations around Wolverhampton then?

For what ? prices or tilers ?

[Dave]

Also a loose cable system would be better for this installation..

[Dave]

Oh!! have you thought about insulation for the UFH..?

[wynny]

For what ? prices or tilers ?

For Tilers pls.

Dave, I did think about insulation but the problem I have is raising the floor height even higher. Half the floor area is new build so has celotex in it but the other half is orig. I have the UFH and also some new liquid on the market which promises to bounce some of the heat back (may work may not).

The big decision is if to lay the whole floor or fit the units first?

[faithhealer]

insulation makes the world of difference, never heard of this 'liquid' but I would go with the insulation mats. Once the kitchen is fitted you wont notice the height diff. Depends on your budget, always nice fo a tiler to have an open floor but you will save a bit by fitting the kitchen first and ufh/tiling second. (kitchen fitters to allow for extra height of course, sometimes end panels can be left off until after tiling, I say sometimes)

[Alan.P]

The big decision is if to lay the whole floor or fit the units first?

I always think its a better job to fix the tiles first then units on top.

Re your height problem to the hallway, you could always fit a tapered transition bar.

Something like this

This would fall to meet your hall carpet or close to it and avoid a tripping point.

Hope that helps

[Dave]

As long as you know where the units will fall then you can install first but it wi ll use more tiles this way..but far less cutting etc.