tiling over old floor boards ?

[groucho]

Tiling bathroom floor in old cottage. was going to use dittramatt as its tens times easier to lay than ply etc. But boards a bit uneven here and there. Couple loose. Is this the best option? boards very dirty sugar soap? if laying dittra , to help leveling out for matt can you just splogde a bit of flexy down ? thanks

 

[DHTiling]

ho groucho mate...
Some peeps think you can use ditra to replace ply or cement boards for strengthening floors but is not so....
You have to make sure a floor is solid before using it...Ditra main purpose is a crack isolator and anti fracture membrane...like old concrete floors and solid wood floors with lots of joints etc etc....it is also a vapour release mat, so is ideal for tiling onto green screeds etc....
here is a link to schluters ditra page... http://www.schluter.co.uk/produkt.aspx?doc=6-1-ditra.xml&pg=funktion

Ditra is good also if you are u sing travertine on timber floors after being strengthened the ditra will take some of the stress off the travertine preventing it from cracking as it sometimes can on timber substrates...
So my advice would be to strengthen the boards and over-ply first..and use ditra if you think it needs it......good luck....

 

[Grace'sDad]

Ditra is good also if you are u sing travertine on timber floors after being strengthened the ditra will take some of the stress off the travertine preventing it from cracking as it sometimes can on timber substrates...

Dave, any chance you can expand a bit on this point? (thanks!)
Is this due to brittleness?

 

[DHTiling]

Some formats of travertine are quiet large..they are honed and filled most of the time and its at these points that they can crack...Ditra will help with this type of stone to relieve some of the stress from the timber expanding etc etc....but as with all tiling to timber floors the substrate needs to be firm first and formost..
hope this helps...