Slate on floor with spring

[ipocock]

Hi All,

Could you help me with some advice for tiling slate onto a floor which currently has spring in it? We have a suspended floor with underfloor heating that previous owners covered with chipboard and then tiled on top (not ideal I know).

We are replacing out kitchen and want to lay a new floor, ideally slate, and trying to work out how to best take the spring out of the floor, without ripping up several levels and starting again, as the underfloor heating makes this difficult and expensive. Have looked into wood floor but this is pretty expensive, as our kitchen is quite big.

Any advice hugely appreciated.

 

[Andy Allen]

Re: Slate on florr with spring

is it a floating floor or is the floor on joists.

 

[ipocock]

Re: Slate on florr with spring

Hi, the previous owner said he screwed the chipboard straight into the joists, which are 400mm apart. However, having just done the bathroom upstairs, we think what may have happened is that the base chip is screwed directly into joists, the insulation/underfloor pipes laid on top, new timbers then screwed into the joists to raise the floor slightly the the top layer of chip screwed into those. But def not floating. The issue we currently have is that the tiles currently on the floor have cracked

 

[Gazzer]

Re: Slate on florr with spring

The best way would be to start again and strengthen the joists

 

[Rich]

Re: Slate on florr with spring

As above Im afraid.

 

[ipocock]

Re: Slate on florr with spring

Thanks for the responses - would replacing the chipboard with 15 mm ply not take sufficient spring out of the floor to provide a reliable base for the slate?

 

[Gazzer]

Re: Slate on florr with spring

It may do but it would need screwing down well. 200mm centres and be careful not to screw through a pipe or cable. Only then will you know.