Pictures of a mud bed for a small bathroom floor

[Rob Z]

Today we did a small mud bed for a bathroom we are remodeling. Here are some photos of the process for the younger guys that might not have done this type of work yet. This subfloor was out about 3/4" or so, and a mud bed was the only good way to get it ready for tile.


tilersforums.com | Tile Forums | Tiling Forum - Rob Z's Album: Small bathroom floor-lath and mortar

 

[White Room]

Great photo's Rob, surprised that a former is'nt used for the shower area

 

[brian c]

great pics Rob,was the sub floor concrete?

 

[Rob Z]

Whoops, I should have given more detail.


The tub is a drop-in type, with the apron built in front of it. All the tile will be set on the walls over Kerdi, which is why you see the drywall there. The subfloor is joists with 1 X 6's and one layer of 1/2" plywood. I had to do the two layers of subfloor because the plumbers had hacked the joists so badly when the house was built.

I'll post a picture of the tub next week so you can see how it is set in place.

 

[brian c]

what does the mud mix consist of and do you use a bonding agent and or a latex additive?

how long does the mud take to set?

 

[doug boardley]

good to see you use screeds even in a small wetroom Rob, to many people this side of the pond try doing it freehand and make a real sows ear of it. Good pics mate

 

[Rob Z]

Bri, I used Laticrete 209 floor mud for this job, mixed with Laticrete's 3701 admix, which is made for this type of mortar. The Lat 209 is a factory mix of 4/1 sand/cement. I didn't use a bonding agent because the metal lath is stapled to the subfloor. This mud is mixed dry and will set up within hours, and by Monday AM it will be harder than Chinese math 😀. My customer will mist it periodically over the weekend to help damp cure the mud.

 

[White Room]

Noticed the eml (expanded metal lathing) on the wood floor

 

[brian c]

i dont think we do that over here Rob,,personally i have never come across this method..very interesting and tbh i would have thought that it might have failed because its a wooden floor but you live and learn...thanks ROB.

 

[brian c]

noticed the eml (expanded metal lathing) on the wood floor

chicken wire.

 

[White Room]

Naaaa, eml Brian:lol:

 

[doug boardley]

i dont think we do that over here Rob,,personally i have never come across this method..very interesting and tbh i would have thought that it might have failed because its a wooden floor but you live and learn...thanks ROB.

I came across this way years ago Bri, no failures either, the downside if I remember was that the lathe had to be stainless, ( to guarantee a 25 year span), so the lathe merchants pushed up the price and therefore it never got used as often as it should have done

 

[White Room]

Used copper eml on a job abroad, specially made

 

[Rob Z]

Used copper eml on a job abroad, specially made

I bet that was some $$$$$$ material!:yikes:

 

[brian c]

I came across this way years ago Bri, no failures either, the downside if I remember was that the lathe had to be stainless, ( to guarantee a 25 year span), so the lathe merchants pushed up the price and therefore it never got used as often as it should have done

Used copper eml on a job abroad, specially made

you guys are showing your age now.:lol: remember im only a young thing.:smilewinkgrin:

 

[White Room]

I bet that was some $$$$$$ material!:yikes:

It was to stop external radio signals from interferance in a room

 

[doug boardley]

where we live Bri, as an apprentice we re- built all these houses, ( they were war time pre-fabs) stripped all the cladding, rebuilt with two skins masonry, Kingspan on the outside:yikes: then lathed and dashed, anyway our house is still ok, but the one doon the row.........

 

[jay]

nice work rob expanding metal is a lot more ridged than chicken wire never had any probs with it a bit pricey but works :8:

 

[doug boardley]

I think we quote chicken wire as a euphemism don't we?

 

[Gazzer]

What was the thickness of the bed Rob ? Looks great anyway, its been a while since i have done any screeding and i am with Doug here, i cant stand the guys who think they can do it freehand.
I used to use metal conduits for my screed battens.

 

[heavytrevy]

I do mine freehand , I mark my levels around the perimeter and at the waste and off I go , I mix my mud on the wet side also.
Come back the next day with a scraper and get it absoletly perfect. good enough for mosiacs. :smilewinkgrin:

As a beginer I used to use float strips and the dry pack method.
It is a dying art.

Trev

What was the thickness of the bed Rob ? Looks great anyway, its been a while since i have done any screeding and i am with Doug here, i cant stand the guys who think they can do it freehand.
I used to use metal conduits for my screed battens.

 

[Rob Z]

What was the thickness of the bed Rob ? Looks great anyway, its been a while since i have done any screeding and i am with Doug here, i cant stand the guys who think they can do it freehand.
I used to use metal conduits for my screed battens.

Neale, it is ~ 1 3/8" on the high side of the subfloor and a bit over 2" on the low side of the subfloor.

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

i screed free hand then im from a plastering/screeding background .i tend to veiw screed rails as DIY if you have screeded miles like me you have a feel for it, if your not experienced i woul rec this meth good job rob

 

[Gazzer]

please re read my post to save from anyone getting the wrong idea

"What was the thickness of the bed Rob ? Looks great anyway, its been a while since i have done any screeding and i am with Doug here, i cant stand the guys who think they can do it freehand.
I used to use metal conduits for my screed battens."

 

[Colour Republic]

Very tidy Rob, in fact it looks so nice and tidy it would be a shame to tile it:lol:

 

[oldgit]

i done the first sand and cement job ive done in years a few months back these are reclaimed pamments.
these were from five different sources,sizes varied 12mm and thickness varied by 15mm,there was only about 30 spare tiles for the job
i quite enjoyed doing the job it made a nice change,and the builder gave me a labourer.
they were grouted with sand,white cement and lime this was to match the brickwork and to look authentic,it an extension on a big old manor house that sits in about 200+ acres.
this was labour only and fitted to the builders instructions this screed was 4+ inches thick in places.
okay this aint exactly tiling but it made a nice change,by doing this i went on to do all the bathrooms and kitchens on the refurb,i got paid with a coutts chq,the guy was a biggie in the military years ago and has just retired as an ambassador of some type around the world.

ive been trying to add pics via photobucket and trying to upload to album neither seem to happening.

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

ive been payed by coutts chq,s about 4 times 34 years it deffo wont bounce :lol:

 

[Colour Republic]

ive been payed by coutts chq,s about 4 times 34 years it deffo wont bounce :lol:

I thinks it's half a million in cash just to open an account, Maybe that's were our defence budget went!

 

[DHTiling]

thanks for the pics Rob..i added them to your first post for you....look foward to seeing more pics as the job progresses.

 

[R Montgomery]

I got excited about the pics for a minute there Rob. Thought it was over here until i saw it was you. Great to see the pics for memories sake. I suppose you cannot get redwood lath back east and are stuck with the pine. On a small floor like that don't you just tile it wet? It's geat to see that you use wooden lath as I still prefer it even though most people I knew had moved on to c-metal strips as there is no need to fill in.

 

[Rob Z]

Hi Roger, No redwood here that is easy to find. For many years I used mahogany rips that a cabinet-maker friend of mine used to save for me. But he is gone now and even though I "lovingly" cared for the mahogany float strips...I finally had to toss them.

So we use pine lattice and sometimes flat metal stock.

That floor is spec'ed to get a crack isolation membrane so no wet-setting on that floor.