As an introduction, I'm a DIY home owner who has gutted the bathroom in a house built in 1980 due to a burst water pipe. I had a professional water mitigation company remove the damage so I'm sure all of the affected material is now gone. I have decided to put large format tile on the floor in the bathroom to start and have a few questions regarding the very conflicting advice that I have found in forums, on YouTube, and in asking questions of local flooring company employees.
I have 3/4" (19.05mm) tongue and groove subfloor sitting on 12" on center 2"x8" floor joists. The bathroom is 60sqft. I have purchased a large format porcelain tile (insert size here) to be installed on the floor of the bathroom. In my "research", I have found some that argue the layers on top of this subfloor should be as follows:
My second concern is that many sources say, "Oh, it should be fine to just screw (no thinset or adhesive) concrete backer board to the 3/4" subfloor" once it is primed and self-leveled. I don't want to be ripping this tile out in a month, or even a year because of cracked tiles and grout, because it "should be fine". I've read that large format tile offers less play than smaller tiles and therefore the substrate it bonds to must be a fairly stable material.
Next, we removed the very old fiberglass tub insert and shower surround and plan to install a fiberglass tub insert, then prep and tile the new surround after I've replaced all the plumbing that needs replacing. At what level of the flooring above should I install the new tub?
Thank you for your time.
I have 3/4" (19.05mm) tongue and groove subfloor sitting on 12" on center 2"x8" floor joists. The bathroom is 60sqft. I have purchased a large format porcelain tile (insert size here) to be installed on the floor of the bathroom. In my "research", I have found some that argue the layers on top of this subfloor should be as follows:
- 3/4" subfloor (existing)
- 1/2" plywood to be installed directly on top of the 3/4" subfloor via screwing it down in the field (from what I understand this is putting the screws into the subfloor in between the floor joists)
- Caulk / Self expanding foam and self-leveling floor primer
- Self-leveling compound as parts of the floor are slightly uneven and need to be rectified
- Thinset
- 1/4" - 1/2" Concrete backer board screwed down to the second layer of plywood
- Thinset
- Schluter Ditra uncoupling membrane
- Thinset
- Tile
- Grout
My second concern is that many sources say, "Oh, it should be fine to just screw (no thinset or adhesive) concrete backer board to the 3/4" subfloor" once it is primed and self-leveled. I don't want to be ripping this tile out in a month, or even a year because of cracked tiles and grout, because it "should be fine". I've read that large format tile offers less play than smaller tiles and therefore the substrate it bonds to must be a fairly stable material.
Next, we removed the very old fiberglass tub insert and shower surround and plan to install a fiberglass tub insert, then prep and tile the new surround after I've replaced all the plumbing that needs replacing. At what level of the flooring above should I install the new tub?
Thank you for your time.
