floating floor?

[sweaty sock]

Just been to price a conservatory and is timber floor over concrete base_is this a floating floor and to be steered clear of?:huh2:

 

[DHTiling]

If the sheets have no fixings ..then YES!! sounds like a floating floor.........

 

[sweaty sock]

thanks for response dave - whats confusing me is that boards are fixed onto 2 by 2 timber on a concrete base -not floating but if i ply it with 12mm should be ok - 12m2 porcelain 450s:huh2:

 

[DHTiling]

Do you know what the spacing in between the 2 x 2..?...

And what is the deflection like....?.. if it is pretty ok and fixed well then over board with 18mm ......personally i would use an uncoupling membrane as well as there will be some expansion( lateral ) in a conservatory with the sudden changes in heat from all the glass/sun etc........but that's just me.....

 

[sweaty sock]

floor is chipboard so if i remember then about 450 ish as all boards screwed down - floor feels good with little deflection but only a couple of weeks old - can i sheet across boards to stiffen up?Its a good job but dont want to do it if dodgy at all - i think with ply it should be hunky dorey

 

[DHTiling]

Just make sure your joints cross the chip board joints and stagger the boards....and leave a 3mm space between the sheets........think about the un-coupling membrane though.. it will serve the floor well..........and most of all...GOOD LUCK....and let us know how you get on....

If you do go for the thinner 12mm then use fast flex or similar..........

 

[sweaty sock]

cheers dave -

 

[cjbombero]

This my seem like a stupid question but is there any reason why you can't just lift the Chipboard floor and batons and use the concrete floor?

Obviously there is going to be a pretty big change in height (which you could raise with some self-leveling concrete, then perhaps use something like Bal Green Screed (need to wait 7 days after concrete)

It sounds like a bad substrate to be tiling a reasonable size conservatory which will be affected by both heat & cold. The other (and cheaper) option is to take up the chipboard, add suitable batons for YOUR purposes and then fit 18mm ply. As Dave said make sure you use good flexi adhesive like BAL fast flex.

Before you do anything talk to the customer, find out why the floor is like this, explain what you will do and explain the costs involved. People tend to be a little happier when they understand the method behind the madness!

Best of luck whatever you do.

 

[Rab78]

I'm also tiling onto chipboard and there is a concrete base underneat as mentioned above, but that gap between the chipboard and the concrete houses unitily conduits, piping, electrical etc.

...if only builders of houses knew that tiles could happen to the floor!