Can I tile directly onto floorboards

[Mike H]

I want to tile my kitchen floor. I have been told that I can tile directly onto the floorboards (using the appropriate adhesive), therefore not having to use 12mm ply-board and keeping the finished floor height, level with the hall floor.

Is this possible, and if so whats the best adhesive to use?

Thanks in advance...

 

[grumpygrouter]

I want to tile my kitchen floor. I have been told that I can tile directly onto the floorboards (using the appropriate adhesive), therefore not having to use 12mm ply-board and keeping the finished floor height, level with the hall floor.

Is this possible, and if so whats the best adhesive to use?

Thanks in advance...

Yes it can be done but the most important thing is to make sure that you have no movement in your floor. Boarding out helps this and is the recommended method. If you must tile direct to your floorboards, look at the likes of BAL Fastflex or Ardex 7001 timber systems along with an appropriate flexible grout. Full information is available from BAL and Ardex websites.

Building Adhesives and Tiling and Flooring products from ARDEX UK

Grumpy

 

[DHTiling]

Great info there grumpy mate.......yes they can be tiled on to but make sure all boards are well fixed and no deflection in the floor..best way to test for this to stand a glass of water full in the middle of the floor and then about 1.5 mtrs away jump on the floor and if any water spills then there is deflection... you need to strengthen the floor..i.e. put a subfloor on top of the existing substrate.........dave...

 

[petergft]

Hi Steve,
I tiled my Bathroom a couple of weeks ago over floorboards. I came on this site and asked the same questions and received very good advise.
I removed a couple of dodgy boards first and checked beneath the boards for pipes and cable, noting where they were sited and marking the floorboards accordingly. I used a mirror and shone a torchlight onto it to view under the boards, very important if you don't want to spend time plumbing and wiring!
Smoothed the boards with a plane to ensure there was no raised areas then put screws adjacent to every nail, time consuming but finnished with good solid floor.
The Tiles used were ceramic 33cm and Bal Fastflex. I also put two neat coats of BAL APD primer down prior to laying. As the area being tiled was only 4.5 sq mtrs I dried layed them using my 3mm spacers and measured all the cuts which i subsequently cut using my new Wet Tile Cutter.
A lot of guys where sceptical on the forum of using Fastflex as it cures in under an hour. I mixed a third of the adhesive at a time and layed the tiles to cover this area. I had wet and dry cloths available and cleaned out the Grout grooves as I went.
The finnished job looks great and i have only a 5mm step up into the bathroom which is blended nicely with a purpose made joining strip.
I have today put a couple of photos in the Gallery and you can see them there if you want.
Good luck with your project!
Petegft

 

[Dan]

Some of the threads in the tiling forum that have had a lot of views are being bumped up into current discussion. Just walk on by if it's not your flavour right now. Perhaps it'll help somebody out one day, and they become members, and then they post a thread, and professional tilers respond, and then you learn something from them...? Maybe?