Novice tiling over ply/concrete

[Sam B]

Hi everyone

I'm a first time tiler and am about to undertake the tiling of my kitchen/dining room. The tiles will be partly over timber floor with a plywood topping the rest will be over concrete (althought this will also have a layer of ply over it to maintain levels). I will be spanning sheets of ply over the transition between timber and concrete to try and limit any differential movement between the two and, hopefully, cracking of the grout.

Can anyone offer any advice on adhesives and grout etc? I know I need a flexible adhesive over the timber but should I carry this over to the concrete or will a regular adhesive be ok?

Also can anyone advise on which adhesive to use, from many searches prices seem to range from £10 to £40 for a 20kg bag all of which claim to be usable over ply. The total area I am tiling is close to 25m2 so I'm looking at quite a few bags.

Finally should I be treating/preparing the ply before starting to tile?

I am in the Sheffield/Barnsley area so if anyone can suggest local tiling places in this area that would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Sam

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

Hi Sam and welcome, ply is not the best surface to tile on, if there is no deflection in the timber part a tile backer board would be better, also an expansion joint will be needed were the two substrates meet. some pics might help us advise you further.

 

[Sam B]

Thanks for your comments phil.

I don't have any pictures but the image below shows the room as drawn in CAD, the orange line shows the edge of the timber floor (to the right and top is concrete). The top of the image is an extension hence the thick stub out at the orange line which is the original external wall. The two rectangles to the right are store rooms.

What would be required for the movement joint? Would you leave out grout along that line and replace with some kind of epoxy filler with a similar colour?

Sam

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

Schlüter-DILEX-KS / -KSA - Schlüter-Systems I hope this link works Sam. You can leave a joint and fill with silicone the same colour as your grout, but I prefare the pre-formed type.

 

[Dontiler]

hello and welcome
you can do expansion joint with matching color silicone
gl