Confused about tiling

Discussion in 'Tilers' Talk' started by BW70, Oct 6, 2018.

  1. BW70

    BW70 Member

    So I'm currently giving the house a bit of a makeover and have decided to put new tiles on the bathroom floor, the room is small with the total area tiled approx 1700 x 1200mm.
    I had thought I'd done my homework after reading up around the web and decided I'd need a membrane or backer board as the bathroom floor is plywood, probably 18mm and according to what I'd read it wasn't a great idea to tile directly onto this.
    I lifted the current tiles this morning which have been down since we've been in the house (15 years) and they had been tiled directly onto the plywood, no cracks, all very solid etc.. They were like a 300 x 300 x 7mm terracotta sort of tile.
    Anyway I called in this afternoon to a local tile outlet to purchase some Ditra membrane and explained the situation. They seemed to think with it being small, never had any previous problems I wouldn't need the Ditra and that some sort of S2 flexible adhesive would be grand. Not familiar with the actual brand or what S2 means as I'm a joiner, not a tiler but on their website I've noticed the Mapei brand. They were waiting on a new batch coming in so I wasn't actually able to get it today.
    What's your thoughts on this? Go ahead with a flexible adhesive? The new tiles are porcelain and 600 x 300 x 9mm if that makes any difference.
    I mean I'm happy at not having to use Ditra as it's one less step however I do like to do a good and complete job and would rather not have a future headache. One part of me thinks OK, I've never had any bother with the old tiles but at the same time it sort of goes against what I've been reading.
     
  2. rogerk101

    rogerk101 Screwfix Select

    I've done plenty of tiling directly onto plywood without any problems ... and even with areas much larger than yours.
    Definitely use slow-set flexible mix-yourself tile adhesive and mix-yourself flexible grout. My preferred brand for both is Weber.
     
  3. BW70

    BW70 Member

    Thanks rogerk, glad to hear that and appreciate your reply. Our kitchen is tiled as well and I'm fairly certain it has been done the same way and is probably 4 times or more the bathroom floor area and it has been grand as well. Just one question, do I need to apply anything to the plywood before the adhesive, eg: primer? or because it it has been tiled over previously will it be ok as is. All the old tiles and adhesive have been removed and I took a very slight hump out of the floor to make it dead level.
     
  4. rogerk101

    rogerk101 Screwfix Select

    I've tried them all and there seems to be no difference - PVA primer, special wood primer sold to me by tiling shops, no primer, tanking slurry - and I can honestly say there is no difference among them.
    I recently tiled directly onto a new 22mm water-proof chipboard floor in my main bathroom and so far so good - he says after the hottest driest summer we've had which followed on from the coldest wettest winter/spring. If it can cope with extremes like we've had this year, it can cope with pretty much all normal years.
     
    BW70 likes this.
  5. CGN

    CGN Screwfix Select

    SBR
     
    BW70 likes this.
  6. Russel

    Russel New Member

    Unless chipboard is made differently these days, I bet your bathroom floor fails. I was sort of forced to tile onto the exact same thing by a developer (a long time ago). The tiles where coming loose within two weeks. On the back of the tiles you could see bits of chipboard stuck in the adhesive. So the surface of the chipboard is not strong enough to hold the tiles.
    I know this post is a bit late BW70 but if you have not tiled it yet do the Ditra. You can never go wrong with it.
     
  7. billfromarran

    billfromarran Active Member

    Plywood is not chipboard.
     

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