Seeking advice on a new tile floor
Hi everyone, (This is “victor” for long time readers.) I have been dreaming of replacing my wooden floor in the vestibule of my building with a nice tile floor. Seeing G’s and Peter’s pictures on Bed-Stuy Reno have inspired me to make this dream a reality. Problem is I don’t know how to prepare the…
Hi everyone,
(This is “victor” for long time readers.)
I have been dreaming of replacing my wooden floor in the vestibule of my building with a nice tile floor. Seeing G’s and Peter’s pictures on Bed-Stuy Reno have inspired me to make this dream a reality.
Problem is I don’t know how to prepare the floor for the tiles.
The building is a new construction building. The subfloors are 3/4″ plywood with wooden joists. The current finished floor is 3/4″ red oak.
I want to remove the finished floor because its getting damaged by the water on shoes and umbrellas.
My question is: What do I have to do to prepare the subfloor for the tiles?
I’m guessing I should:
1. remove the finished floor to expose the wooden subfloor
2. screw the subfloor down tight so it doesn’t move anymore
3. lay down a layer of wonderboard or some other kind of tile underlayment.
4. fill in any little gaps between the boards and the walls with some concrete-ish material
5. allow to dry
For the rest of the job, I figure I can follow the instructions of a good book.
So can anyone give me some hits on preparing the subfloor for tiles?
“Jagadish” is lebanese for “Help I am a prisoner of the Carpet-in-micro-marble-mosaic-ON-Sale-Discount Company”
You should take some of the money you saved and send a donation to your favorite local economic development/historic preservation office to help with the effort to save the historic character of the neighborhoods.
Or maybe better… send the same savings to the public school program that works to give our kids a tradition of home grown craftsmanship.
Hope it lasts.
Open your checkbook and call a pro.
I put down wonderboard and then bought a mosaic carpet on ebay. The sucker has a zillion marble pieces and not a one came off during shipping.
More amazing — it came from lebanon (middle east). The guy there (jagadish) even custom made
the size as my vestibule wasn’t exactly the
size on ebay. I think it cost me about $375
inc shipping. All I had to do was put down
thin set, unroll it, and then the next day,
grout it. The following day I put back baseboards
and the bottom pice of my door casings.
If you are interested I can take a pic and email to you.
Check out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Carpet-in-micro-marble-mosaic-ON-SALE-DISCOUNT-80x40_W0QQitemZ120064374242QQihZ002QQcategoryZ83940QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262
Schluter makes a flexible mat that’s used beneath marble/stone to compensate for substrate expansion contraction.
6:17, thanks for confirming my thought on movement in the subfloor.
I’ve been looking locally for new thresholds for this project so that I can plan accurately but I haven’t had any luck. Everything I found is too small and rises to its highest peak in the center. I need them to rise on one edge.
Perhaps this project should start with finding the right thresholds first.
Do you know how much space I should have between the bottom of the door and the top of the threshold? Its a modern 36″ fire rated metal exterior door.
6:08, I’m surprised that I have to break the tongue and grove connection. I thought that the tongue and grove would actually be strong, if it exists.
I can imagine breaking that connection by running a circular saw along the joint with only 3/4″ of the blade exposed. Once that’s done, I would be left with a gap that would get wider and narrower with humdity. Should I put some material in this gap?
I like your idea of caulking around the subfloor and putting a membrane on top of the subfloor. I wouldn’t have thought of that.
Movement in the subfloor spells death for the finished tiles. There are premixed thinsets with modified ingredients allowing for better results. Remove the baseboard, oakflooring back down to the plywood subfloor and inspect for movement. Fasten as required to secure. Use thinset to set tile backerboard and screw in using proprietary screws. Planning stage should accommodate for finished height of door saddles and door swing.
Hi,
I would glance at the subfloor to make sure that it is not tongue and groove type plywood. If it is you will want to break that connection, heat and humidity changes will result in a movement of that joint if you don’t do this. Also consider roofing felt or some other waterproof membrane stapled to the subfloor.
I would caulk around the perimeter before the membrane to stop the cold air infiltration as far down as possible.