Whats wrong with my tiled floor?

[actionjackson]

Hi all,

Great forum with a wealth of knowledge.

Here goes with my first post, i live on the first floor of a new build (5 yrs ago) converted granary. My bathroom is porcelain tiled and over the last 2 yrs a number of tiles have started to crack.

I decided to investigate (under the bath) what they have been laid onto and it appears this is the setup-

- Tounge and groove chipboard floor
-17mm floating plywood on top of chipboard floor
- 17mm Tounge and Groove on top of plywood
- Tiles

I cant tell without removing tiles if the top level T&G is fixed to the plywood however i can tell you the plywood appears to be unattached to the main chipboard flooring.

So before i pay someone to lay my expensive new tiles and possibly UFH, what should be done to stop this happening again?

All advice gratefully welcome.

Thanks

 

[david campbell]

is there any movement in the floor? if not
on top of the first layer of chipboard i would screw 15/18mm ply or use cement boards if there is no movement!

 

[actionjackson]

is there any movement in the floor? if not
on top of the first layer of chipboard i would screw 15/18mm ply or use cement boards if there is no movement!

how would i tell if their is any movement?

 

[doug boardley]

same here DC. Why was there another layer of T&G on top of the ply? (which should've been screwed down anyway)

 

[david campbell]

jump up and down gently on your toes on the floor and if there is any bounce in the floor then it's not suitable for tiling

 

[DHTiling]

Hi and welcome..

If the ply is floating then nothing will sort it till this is fixed.. I think there might be a reason for this floor construction.. Are you able to contact the developer.. and ask why..etc..?

 

[actionjackson]

jump up and down gently on your toes on the floor and if there is any bounce in the floor then it's not suitable for tiling

there appears to be little movement apart from near the walls. When looking under the bath i could see the top plywood and T&G is simply butted up against the stud wall. The stud wall is mounted onto of the actual floor board.

 

[actionjackson]

Hi and welcome..

If the ply is floating then nothing will sort it till this is fixed.. I think there might be a reason for this floor construction.. Are you able to contact the developer.. and ask why..etc..?

The develops are very difficult to deal with but i can try. I guess this is not a usual layout then? Typical!

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

This seems a strange mix to me, in general floating floors and tiles don't go well:welcome:

 

[actionjackson]

So would the best course of action be to screw down the 17mm ply to the floorboards?

 

[DHTiling]

The develops are very difficult to deal with but i can try. I guess this is not a usual layout then? Typical!

It's not no.. must be a reason why it is laid this way..

 

[doug boardley]

So would the best course of action be to screw down the 17mm ply to the floorboards?

I'd check with developer first, as Dave says, there must be a reason for it.

 

[DHTiling]

So would the best course of action be to screw down the 17mm ply to the floorboards?

In theory yes... but i would double check before you do..

 

[actionjackson]

Thanks all - i will report back when i have got an answer from ther builders.

 

[actionjackson]

Right... i have spoken to a very helpful guy at the builders (previous comments taken back lol) and he has told me i have a floating acoustic layer above the T&G chipboard floorboards. This layer consists of 17mm ply, 2mm rubber matting and 17mm T&G chipboard T&which is all bonded as one layer. He did admit this is not the best platform for laying tiles but couldn't offer a solution as this was specified by the developers to reduce sound travel between floors.

So what should i do? Can i simply screw down this acoustic layer and lay tiles on top, accepting i (and my neighbour) will loose the sound proofing properties? Being a bathroom and the floor below having the same layout i can't see this being a major problem.

Just to add to the mix, I'm seriously looking at fitting electric UFH whilst i have the opportunity and would like to know how this fits into the equation.

Thanks in advance.