www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

I am looking at putting tiles in my bathroom floor and need a bit of advice, I have floorboard down (chipboard), can I put the tiles directly on top? If not can I put a coating on them such as varnish and then put the tiles on top? I don't wanna rais ethe floor height with plywood or cement board unless I really have to. Any advice for this DIY novice would be well received. BTW my wife thinks I am gonna screw it up big time so let's show her that this nit wit knows what he is doing.

I'll move this "Nit Wit's" post to the Tiling forum.

Chipboard is quite probably the worst surface to tile on, so you you have two choices, either rip it up and replace with WBP ply treated back and sides with acrylic primer, or overboard with a decent tile backerboard.


However before you shoot of and do either of these there are many more things to consider.

Firstly you will need to know the size/pitch and span of your floor joists, this will determine the course you take above. You need tio avoid any form of deflection (bounce) in the floor.

Second what size and type of tiles do you intend to use?

Third only use quality trade products such as BAL or Mapei etc....Nothing from the DIY sheds will suffice, not even the Mapei sold in B N Poo it is NOT the same trade quality.

And lastly, Tiling is not hard but there are many things that can cause you problems and lead to tile failure, answer the questions above and i will provide further detailed advice.

BTW i am not a pro tiler just someone who has learned the hard way, and on that occasion, my missus was right, now i don't give her that opportunity