www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Greetings.

I plan to have a slate floor fitted to my bathroom soon, but have some questions first...

I have pulled back the carpet from underneath the sink and found that a fair bit of water has pooled underneath the underlay and made the concrete pretty manky and black.

I assume I'll need to clean this before laying slates - what would be best for this?

If I need to clean it, is it OK to leave it to dry or will I need to get a dehumidifier or something similar?

Also, there is carpet gripper nailed to the concrete, and the underlay appears to have been stapled to the floor - should I just pull these up or will I need to fill any holes that are left?

Is it better to tile around the basin pedestal and WC or remove them and tile underneath?

Last question (for the moment!)...

The bathroom is pretty small (around 3m2 floor area excluding underneath the bath) and fairly regular in shape. Assuming I chicken out of doing the floor myself and get a professional in, roughly how long would the bathroom be out of commission?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

You can use bleech to clean the black mould off of the floor. Just leave the floor to dry naturally.

Just pull gripper and underlay up, there is no need to fill holes.

It is better to take the toilet and basin out before tiling. If you have to alter plumbing slightly because floor level has raised a fraction the so be it. This is better option than leaving toilet and basin in and tiling around them. That just look pants and spoils a floor.

I bend over backwards so that clients have as little inconvenience as possible. You might get someone who will work late so you have bathroom to use that evening. If people have another bathroom in the house then I normally don't push it to get toilet and basin back in on the same day.

Of course it all depends on size of tiles and whether they are regular size and regular thickness.

Bal do a variset adhesive, and if the Toilet/basin is removed, the floor could be tiled and grouted.......and ready to walk on in an hour

If you want slate.......go for a honed slate, or the loo/basin could be a problem in getting a 100% level

http://www.bal-adhesives.co.uk/products/variset-xp