1945 home + tile :)

[nabob]

Hi all, new to this forum. Love the responses and I hope I have enough info for you.

I intend to tile my bathroom floor to ceiling with 12 inch tiles (which I have not chosen yet).

Currently my bathroom is at drywall stage, not mudded and taped.

The sub floor is causing me grief. I have a fir subfloor, looks like hardwood, I mean it is strips of wood. I don't know whether to remove the floor and start at the joists or to put something like wonderboard on top of the fir. If I do this then that will raise my floor considerably, resulting in door problems, perhaps tub problems (just installed a 2 piece reno fibreglass tub). In an ideal world I would like to tile on top of the fir.

Do I need to mud and tape the walls prior to tile install? What adhesive/grout should I be using on the walls.

I am not really sure where to start and my home reno stores confuse me!

Thanks for any info you can offer.

[Brian in San Diego]

Nabob,

Welcome to the forum! Please click on the User CP tab in the dark blue toolbar above and edit your signature line to include your first name (or what you prefer to be called).

You definitely cannot tile directly over dimensional lumber nor do you want to tile directly over plywood. But first we need to back you up a step and direct your attention to the Deflecto tab in the dark blue toolbar. There you will find a handy calculator that is going to help you and us determine whether your 50+ year old joist structure will be adequate for a tile installation.

Once that's determined then we'll be able to fathom through the rest of the process.

Brian

[nabob]

This translates to a deflection of L / 1142.

Since the maximum deflection for tile is L / 360, and for natural stone is L / 720, your floor is rated for Ceramic tile or Natural stone, Congratulations!

Ok, that is done. So sad to read that my current fir sub-floor will not work for this project.

[Brian in San Diego]

Michelle,

You have a couple of choices but in the end you are going to end up with a higher floor than you may currently have in mind. There is a dangerous weapon of mass destruction (I mean tool) that can cut the bottoms off of doors in a jiffy. And you don't even have to take the door off the hinges. It's called an undercut saw. Are the planks 3/4" thick? If so, you could add a layer of 1/2" plywood then Ditra and tile. This "sandwich" would total about 1 1/16". The other alternative would be to rip up the planks and put down 3/4" T&G plywood, ditra, thinset and tile. That would add less than 3/4" to the height of the existing subfloor.

Brian

[nabob]

This ditra you speak of, is it that orange stuff?

And yup, I am pretty positive the plank are 3/4 with my unreal measurement tool that I call my index finger. Where I removed the plaster and re-drywalled there is a floor gap.

[nabob]

And the other thing, I just thought of. What about the toliet? I doubt it will attach the same way if I am adding all that height.

On a side note, this is a FABULOUS forum.

[Brian in San Diego]

Michelle,

Yup, Ditra is the orange stuff. You can use 1/4" backerboard if you like but I think it's harder to install and it's heavier. I like being able to carry enough Ditra to cover 323 sqft. over one shoulder. The equivalent backerboard would weigh over 600 lbs.!

Although some people don't like them there are spacers available to raise the toilet flange to the proper height. You could also replumb the flange and that would be the best solution but not always practical.

Brian

[nabob]

Brian,

Thought you might like an update. My tile is going beautifully. Grouted last night, will be grouting the ceiling tonight. According to my instructions I have to wait a few days to seal it. So in a few days I will be done tiling the bathroom. It looks amazing!