www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Hi

I just bought some CERAMIC FLOOR TILES (33CM BY 33CM) FROM b & q £12 for a pack of 9 tiles to lay in my dining room (17 ft X 10 ft),

my exposed flooring in the dining room is ordinary wooden floorboards, and i was wondering what type of underlay is best ( i just want the most cost effective way of doing this, i am so confused by all the choices on offer.

do i go for plywood/boards, matting ( which i have just been told about but never heard of) and what type of thickness is best.

Any help or pointers would be helpful,
i am advertising the job online and hope to have a tiler do the job for me within the next month,

can i thank you in adavnce for any help you offer !

If you are getting someone else to lay the tiles you have to be careful.

If you do the prep work by putting down some Plywood etc. and you have problems in the future the tiler might blame your preperation work.

I'm not saying anything will go wrong, but there is a possibility of the workman shifting the blame!

Personally I'd go for this-

1/ Secure the existing floorboards to the joists and replace/repair any damaged areas. Over ply with 12mm WBP plywood screwed every 150mm.

or

2/ Remove the existing floorboards back to the joists and replace with 25mm WBP plywood fixing noggins where boards join across joists.


Taken from here floor tiling

If the boards are sound I would screwfix them to the joists at 300 c/s and then overboard with 6mm Hardie or No More Ply, fixed in accordance with the manufacturers instructions.
As the previous poster said, I would let the tiler do the prep.

If not overlaying with ply or removing floorboards and replacing with ply, then I like Ditra matting. I also like the sound of Nicabond 'no more ply' but haven't used it yet or heard any reliable feedback about it.

You should advertise the job on here to lol.

You will narrow your responses by doing prep work yourself. I would price but wouldn't commit to the job until I had seen the floor already prepped.