Tiles on wooden floor: moving and grout cracking

[mikethetile]

you wont get 15mm in the uk and if you tell your builder 15mm he will supply 12mm which isnt sufficiant, the next available size up is 18mm and needs to be wbp
this will be stamped on the board , check it before he lays

overboarding with 18mm causes height issues so its best to rip up existing and relay as advised above. also prime boards front and back with a suitable primer

not paint or pva but the primer reccomended for the addy

I still feel that although you do need give him an oppurtunity to redeem himself and retrieve the job

I have no confidence in him as he has already wrongly spec the job and after being called back didnt have the sense to investigate the problem and resolve it
he is right in his claim that joist movement is the cause ,but knowing that to be a problem failed to take measures to overcome this issue before laying the tiles

refer him onto this thread and we will advise him

or if he wont play ball , shut the door on him and go legal to recover the costs you have incurred so far

you have the pick of the best tilers in the world on this site , at least one will live near you

mike

 

[pilsburypie]

I wish I had found this forum before I had my bathroom done. The advice given here is a breath of fresh air compared to the madness I have heared from so called experts.

Can I be as cheeky as to ask you all to have a look at my new post regarding the rest of the tiling job he did to a similar standard....

 

[DHTiling]

Will do.. going to look now.

 

[Phil22]

If you had asked the builder to build you a brick wall, he wouldn't (or shouldn't) do it on a soft or flexible foundation, he would make sure the foundation was solid and suitable enough for the conditions first.
This is the exact same principle in tiling, the foundation or substrate has to be rigid and stable enough to take the tile first.

Apart from the wrong ply used, the use of flexible adhesive and grout does not solve deflection problems as many non-tilers assume as the flexible surface, your wooden floor, is set to your adhesive which is in turn set to the riged tile that is Not Flexible. So when your wooden floor moves underfoot, the rigid tiles are forced to move too, which results in cracked grout and broken tiles. So it doesnt matter how flexible the adhesive is, the tile will always move unless the substrate is made good with minimal deflection first.

Agree with previous comments on minimum thickness of ply etc.

 

[diamondtiling]

If you had asked the builder to build you a brick wall, he wouldn't (or shouldn't) do it on a soft or flexible foundation, he would make sure the foundation was solid and suitable enough for the conditions first.
This is the exact same principle in tiling, the foundation or substrate has to be rigid and stable enough to take the tile first.

Apart from the wrong ply used, the use of flexible adhesive and grout does not solve deflection problems as many non-tilers assume as the flexible surface, your wooden floor, is set to your adhesive which is in turn set to the riged tile that is Not Flexible. So when your wooden floor moves underfoot, the rigid tiles are forced to move too, which results in cracked grout and broken tiles. So it doesnt matter how flexible the adhesive is, the tile will always move unless the substrate is made good with minimal deflection first.

Agree with previous comments on minimum thickness of ply etc.

Could not agree more, good post.

 

[aqua blue]

"the use of flexible adhesive and grout does not solve deflection problems"

I hear this from clients all the time.

My reply is always- "Yes, but it doesn't make the tile flexible."

I think a lot of the problem with the 'light touch tilers' is one, ignorance and more seriously, if they tell the client that this is all that's needed they insure their quote remains the cheapest and make others look as thou they are trying to bump up the quote.

:mad2::incazzato:

 

[White Room]

Builders:yikes::yikes:

 

[diamondtiling]

These lot seem to know what they are doing, I would not hesitate to hire them.

:smilewinkgrin:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjfQ5ca0dBQ]YouTube - bad builders[/ame]

 

[aqua blue]

LMAO. 36 seconds in...

A builder with a ladder phobia? No wonder they don't like 18mm ply! :lol:

 

[paulc2012]

If you're stuck with having to use the guy, at least for the moment, make sure the boards are screwed, not nailed, and use an elastomeric adhesive like the one from Bal here (follow link)

http://194.223.92.131/pdf/Technical%20Data%20Sheets/B%20&%20C%20Technical%20Data%20Sheets/BAL_Flex.pdf

good luck
___________________________
paulc2012
http://www.oakenstone.co.uk