Wife thinks she is right

[WallyBell]

Hi Friends - I have enjoyed this forum (thanks John) and now have a question. I am remodeling a small bathroom (floor 60" x 50") in a 1965 wood floor house in Fernandina Beach, Florida. I removed the old tile floor which were small (3" octogon cermic) set in mud with no lath on tar felt paper.The sub floor is 1x6 diagonal yellow pine planking (whole house). The cast iron toilet flange was too high and apparently has been leaking for decades (before my time here). Anyway the tile was cracked and large chunks of the subfloor were laying rotten on the ground in the crawlspace. Yippee!

I removed the flange by drilling out all the lead untill it just literally fell off and using a 4" angle grinder with a thin metal cut off wheel cut the waste pipe to height.

I have chopped out all the sub floor including jacking the plumbing wall 1/2" and removing all the rotten planking under it. The joist are 2x8 yellow pine at 16" O.C. with a span of 11' 8" and were in good shape but choose to sister new joist with glue and nails to each joist and replaced all the diagonal placking with 1x6" pine planking. This is where I am at this morning.

The rest of the house is 3/4" oak T&G planking on felt paper nailed directly to the subfloor so no matter what I do (I think) the bath tile will be taller then the hall floor.

My thoughts are 5/8" BC Pine plywood on felt paper followed with cement base floor level compound, then thinset 12" tile on the diagonal with a 1/4 x 1/4 x 3/8 trowel with a 3/16" grout joint.

Grasshopper will now sit and listen

[muskymike]

Hi Wally, welcome! Sounds like you did your homework. However, I would use CBU or Ditra on the plywood that you put in.

[WallyBell]

That was one of the things I was wondering about Mike. Nice fish by the way. I am a boat builder by trade.

[bbcamp]

If you have to do any leveling, do it after you install the CBU or before you install the Ditra.

[WallyBell]

I think I need to use Ditra due to floor height issues. I have 1-1/4" from the subfloor to the finished edge of cermic wall base tiles.

What do you guys think of this approach: Glue laminate 5/8" BC to subfloor, skim with cement leveler for surface prep (1/16"), Set Ditra (1/8" material plus Ditra thinset of 1/16" when compressed??), then thinset 3/16" tile with thinset material being 1/8" after installed for a total of 1-3/16" to 1-1/4"

My thoughts on glueing down the plywood is to get the floor surface to behave as a single structural membrane on these now massive joist-sorta of the same approach we use on boat floors spanning across the stringers

[bbcamp]

I wouldn't bother gluing the plywood to the planks. The planks are less dimensionally stable than the plywood, so seasonal expansion/contraction may make the plywood curl or buckle. Using screws only isolates this movement from the plywood. Your plank subfloor provides all the support you need, the plywood is there to control movement.

[WallyBell]

Rodger that Bob..thanks

[WallyBell]

Hi folks. I set the tile yesterday afternoon (2 to 4PM) using Versabond fortified over hardiboard. I am ready to grout this morning but the wife is insisting I follow the directions on the thinset bag and wait 24 hours. I say let's charge ahead.

[jgleason]

Hi Wally, Dontcha know the wife is always right? Must be a newlywed!

Follow the directions, manufacturers don't make stuff up without good reason.

[cx]

I presume it's this same floor we're tiling, Wally. Threads never get too old to bump back to the top with a new post.

You're wife is correct. In fact, you can be confident all the waiting times on such products are minimum times as the manufacturers compete constantly to make their products more attractive by permitting less down time.

Build you a boat or something today, and grout tomorrow, eh?

My opinion; worth price charged.

[WallyBell]

Darn..she has another list of things for me to do today...she is not in cahoots with tou guys is she? The thinset is so hard you can't scratch it with your nail.

[WallyBell]

Thanks guys...now I get to hear "I told you so" all day

[Marge]

Wally, Wally, Wally. While you are doing all those other things except grouting, practice saying "yes, dear" until it sounds truly sincere!

And welcome to the forum!

[Davy]

Wally, the grout in the joints are set but under the tiles is probably still a little wet. Give it 24 hrs and say "yes dear".

[WallyBell]

Rodger that...off to build a crawl space door and trim out the patio door. Not only have we created a monster here but now she has 3 girl friends over and the entire chorus as chimed in. Going out to the shed...taking dog with me.