Hi There & question

[MattyNovice]

Hi There from a newbie,

Would appreciate some adice re wet room floor former....

Installing first wet room and opted for the Tuff 2 tray. Existing chipboard flooring all removed, 22mm ply screwed to joists, lots of extra noggins added where possible underneath. Existing pipework for radiators & taps which also supply next door en suite, prevented fitting noggins under every point of the shower former, but all edges are supported and manged to screw in 11 of the 21 pre drilled holes on the perimetre of the former. Homelux membrane fitted to entir floor and wet area on walls, room is about ready to tile, mosaics for the wet floor area, large Pocelain for the remaing floor and walls. My problem is this.....Despite checking and reading loads of various posts about not needing to under board the Tuff 2 former, I am uncertain about the amount of flex in the floor when walking/standing on the former itself. We can physically see a degree of movement which concerns me. Has anyone else come across this issue, and am I worrying over nothing? Thanks in advance

 

[Ian]

Hello mate, do you think that it's the former that's moving or the floor under it?

 

[MattyNovice]

Thanks for the quick reply, I read my post and realised I may have confused the info, sorry. It's the former that flexes, purely through the weight of walking on it. It's not much and not measured in any way, I can just feel it and I'm not the heaviest of blokes.

 

[Ian]

I'm going to say that it's not a good thing. I've just re-read your opening post and am unsure whether the former is fixed straight to the joists or has ply under it? If I read correctly there is no ply under the former so I would assume that the flex is coming from the areas where the former bridges the joists. I'd say that you need to create more support under it by adding extra battons to the existing joists and 'filling in the gaps' with 18mm ply, doing this will not incrase the floor height under the former but will give it a solid base and (hopefully!) eliminate any movement.

 

[Ian]

If you go down to stage 7 of this install, you'll see what I was attempting to describe!

http://www.impey-courtier.com/pdfs/trade/Aqua Dec/Aqua Dec Installation Guide.pdf

 

[MattyNovice]

Hi Brian,

Thanks again for the reply. The tray is screwed directly to the joists and has noggins fixed between the joists underneath and where possible. As I said in my original post, due to the existing pipe work and the position of the joists, fully under boarding the tray was not possible, this is mainly why I opted for the Tuff 2 former, as it is widely claimed that under boarding is not required. Even if I remove the membrane, drain and tray, I will have no feasible method of further supporting the tray underneath it. I was hoping that someone may have installed one of these under similar circumsatnces, and find out if they have experienced any issues with movement. Thanks for the info mate.

 

[paul damian]

Welcome matty.

 

[MattyNovice]

Thank you Paul. Don't suppose you have ever installed a Tuff 2 tray without under boarding it have you? :yikes:

 

[suave]

:welcome:

 

[DHTiling]

Tuff dec 2 formers can span a 600mm gap easy enough..

Did you use a spirit level across the joists to check for level and no bowing etc.. this can cause the tray to flex on the low spots where no support to the joist is touching the tray till you stand on it..


The option would be to use extra screws to pull the tray down tight and then tank membrane over these fixings..


As a matter of overkill , we screw down with extra screws and precaution anyway ,then fully cover the tray with Dural WP...

Worth thinking about though..

 

[MattyNovice]

Hi Dave, thanks for the reply.

I triple checked the level on all four edges and they were level. There is one point, on one edge, that measures around 520mm that is without support that's all, but I take your point. I thought about whether it was possible to create additional fixing holes within the tray area itself, and do exactly as you have suggested, but I figured if this were possible the manufacturers would have put them there in the first place!

This would definitely solve the movement. So I will pre countersink and pre drill some additional fixing holes, screw to the joists/noggins and tank over the top.

Cheers Dave, much appreciated.

 

[White Room]

I used a polymer tube gear and put a good bead on the joists and noggins, bedded it on and left till the next day before standing on it..

 

[MattyNovice]

Hi mate, thanks for the reply and advice, I wish I'd have done that too!

Just waiting for my tiler now. Unless someone here fancie quoting?

The guy I have lined up can't fit us in until a week before xmas, and we would love to get it finished beforehand.

Any takers please let me know, we are based in Essex, and I can supply more details and pics if that helps in a private message?

Cheers, Matty.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

:welcome: and good luck.