Floor tiling!! Please help!!! - Tile Advice

[Jvc]

hi all

I have been tiling for over a year but seem to always struggle and have difficulty with floor tiling. (I don’t have this problem with wall tiling?!?!)

Whether it’s laying tiles without lipage or getting floor tiles completely level - both are causing me a lot of grief. I have tried using a deeper bed to start with so as I have some room to play with but this doesn’t seem to work.

Can anyone suggest some uself tips???

- is it best to dry lay the floor first, getting cuts out of the way, or doing cuts as you go along ?

- is it normal to have an unlevel floor when finished, so long as the tiles are flat with no lips?


Btw, I have tried self levelling compounds and self levelling spacers and neither have helped.


Suggestions much appreciated!!!

Thank you !

 

[Dumbo]

Are you self taught

 

[Jvc]

Yup...

 

[Dumbo]

Amongst other things you probably need to learn how to level a floor properly before you start .
Sow ears and silk purses .
If you get your prep right the other stuff is easier .

 

[Blunt Tool]

Spend plenty of time on the prep of the floor, flat and level to make it easier to install the tiles. Take your time and be willing to take a financial hit until you are up to scratch.

 

[Jvc]

Thanks, but what if there is a very high point on a ply floor ? Surely there is a maximum height you can adjust floor to?

Obviously bearing in mind the raised floor level at door threshold.

Do you recommend notching a largish area
First and laying tiles, or starting with a notched area the size of 1 tile (a 600x300 tile for example)

 

[Blunt Tool]

Personally don’t ever use plywood, Hardi or Wedi boards for me and I will fix whatever sub floor there is to get it as flat and level as possible first. If it’s a small bathroom floor 4 metres eg then I’ll dry lay and cut all the tiles then take them up and stick them down, just a personal preference so that I don’t waste fast setting adhesive.

 

[One Day]

Good floors are normally 80% prep and 20% tiling.

If you skip the prep and try to tackle a bad subfloor then it's more like 80% cursing and 20% excuses.

 

[One Day]

Personally don’t ever use plywood, Hardi or Wedi boards for me and I will fix whatever sub floor there is to get it as flat and level as possible first. If it’s a small bathroom floor 4 metres eg then I’ll dry lay and cut all the tiles then take them up and stick them down, just a personal preference so that I don’t waste fast setting adhesive.

I could've written that myself.

 

[Jvc]

Ok, so we are saying no matter what we need to adjust subfloor so that it can be levelled ?

 

[Dumbo]

Ok, so we are saying no matter what we need to adjust subfloor so that it can be levelled ?

If it's not flat it's an uphill battle . As you have found

 

[Dumbo]

If it's not flat it's an uphill battle . As you have found

Sometimes you just can't help the height at door level