Setting Out Who Does The Levelling??

[JB131]

Half way through a major kitchen refurb. Three rooms into one. Next the floor. The picture shows the current situation. Old kitchen is floorboards with 3mm ply and old lino tiles firmly fixed. A concrete slab has been poured to fill what was a step in larder. Old scullery floor is quarry tiles on ash (solid), and concrete has been used to patch gaps left by old walls that have been removed. Plan is to tile with 67.5x45 porcelain tiles. Overall area is 38m2.

I wanted to know whether it is best to have the floor levelled independently as a separate job, or is this within the capability of most tilers?

Reason for asking is I have had mixed reactions from those that I have invited to quote. Either "The floor needs levelling first", or they seem happy to take it on.

Want to do the right thing. Is the levelling a specialist job, or better for tiler to do it. My nightmare is to have two people blaming each other if the job goes wrong.

Any advice gratefully accepted.

 

[Old Mod]

That's easy, a good Proffesional tiler will happily level his own floor unless it involves structural work.
Then it'll probably be a different story.

 

[hmtiling]

As above. If not structural i'd want to level it myself, as should any tiler.

 

[bcd-87]

Just leveled a 20m floor, had old quarry tiles up Monday. It was destroyed and 20 mm old of level its all in a days work

 

[Spud]

The prep on the picture is more than just a bit of leveling though , you have mixed substrates and there are some big voids around the chipboard , the floor boards maybe an issue as well as they will need securing properly too so whoever you choose to do your floor just be careful they know what they are doing

 

[Dave]

As above SLC is no good as it is , it will flow under the floor boards etc. Lol.

 

[hmtiling]

haha

 

[Flintstone]

I wouldn't sort that out, I would want it making good before I came to tile, or board the floor

 

[Flintstone]

I wouldn't sort that out, I would want it making good before I came to tile, or board the floor

 

[LM]

I've tackled more than a few jobs like this in the past and to date I've had no failures.
The first thing I would do would be to remove any overlaying material right back to the original joists on the 'timber' side of the floor. I would then mechanically fix supports to the adjoining concrete perimetre 'where it meets the wooden section of the floor' at the appropriate height, so as to support a new 18 mm treated tongue and grove ply overlay properly screwed down on top of the original joists, making sure there's no deflection in the floor of course. I would then fill the adjoining gap between the timber substrate and concrete with a flexible gap filler ' silicone is fine'. Next would be to remove any dust dirt or contamination etc from the concrete section and prime accordingly before leveling up with an appropriate slc, one that can go to the depth required.
If on the other hand the wooden substrate is lower after the corrective works then flip the procedure and prime and level up the wooden substrate with a good fibre reinforced slc.
Next I would over lay the whole floor with 'and wait for it' another layer of 12mm treated ply secured using an adhesive like this
Bostik Laybond Wood MS Bond, reason being is that by in its nature plywood is more 'flexible' than most common backer boards and in so can deal with contraction and expansion better than backer boards 'IN THIS INSTANCE'. the fact that its a 'well settled' house will favour this approach.
Then just treat the floor as if you where tiling on top of a typical plywood floor! simple! and its never failed for me!
Any technical advisor would have to advise you to remove everything back to scratch to be by the book and stand over it,but I've done this many time over the last 20 years and as I've said I've never had a failure.

Hope this is of help to you JB 1 3 1

 

[JB131]

Thanks all for your feedback, opinions and ideas. I have an experienced tiler who is willing to take it on. His approach is not dissimilar towhat you have outlined Lee Mac. Generally was just quite surprised by the split of opinion that I was getting. I would say roughly half of those that looked agreed with LocalTiler's view. As a parting shot, when there is such a difference of opinion as a customer I lose confidence generally. But I guess people call it as they see it based on their past experiences.

Thanks again

 

[hmtiling]

Marmox overlay would be better than ply imo.
Just to mix it up again

 

[hmtiling]

Glued with SPF and screws and washers.

 

[SJPurdy]

A few points to consider:
The 3mm ply needs taking up and the flooring under it inspecting - is there ventilation underneath, are the floor boards in good order and firmly fixed to a rigid joist system?
The quarry tiles on ash floor I assume to be a compressed ash bed with quarry tiles laid on top of it and fixed using gravity, something that I've tiled on a few times before (small areas) and had no callbacks/problems ( but then I have been very lucky).
Is there any damp proof membrane or insulation under any of the solid floors?
Even if the timber area is repaired/prepped properly and the solid floors are levelled up to it and then the whole floor is over-boarded with backer board, insulated backer board or wood sheets!! then there should still be a movement joint in the tiling above the wood-solid interface.

Have you considered taking out the whole miss-match of floors and replacing with a new properly damp-proofed and insulated floor slab?