Tiling on uneven wooden floor

[Alan Zoff]

Apart from brick exterior and roof tiles, our 1920s Allier house was constructed almost entirely from local oak. The first floor floor (s-sorry) is made up of approx 15" x 4" x 3/4" tongue-and-groove wooden blocks (a sort of parquet).

The bathroom floor is quite uneven, due to movement in the supporting joists over the years. It has also suffered a bit from water being sloshed onto it and so is quite badly stained. Previous owner seems to have left it bare apart from a small rug. The joints in the blocks have spread (or rather the blocks have shrunk)and the unevenness makes the floor a little uncomfortable for bare feet.

I don't want carpet for obvious reasons. Lino would do the trick but the unevenness would show through.

Ideally, I would like to tile over it. (It's not really a shame to cover the wood in this room as it doesn't look great. The tiles are difficult to get up.)

I would welcome suggestions on how best to prepare an uneven wooden floor for tiling with bathroom floor tiles. I assume it needs to be dead flat without any movement.

Or is there anything better than tiles?

[Ssc]

How stable is your current floor. Does it move when you walk on it or just look rubbish. If its not too bad, and doesn't actually flex, fix down any loose boards then firmly screw sheets of half inch waterproof plywood all over, then tile over that. You can also buy a special latex tile adhesive (and grout) to cater for any small movement after that. This route was recommended to by a tiler when I did my bathroom in the UK and was still fine when I moved out 5 years later

Bon Chance - Tony

[Alan Zoff]

That sounds good to me. No, it doesn't flex. Just unsightly - and uncomfortable. I had thought that anything laid over it would merely follow the contours and show up the imperfections of the existing floor but I imagine using a decent thickness of plywood will avoid that problem. Thanks Tony.

[Cassis]

The "special latex tile adhesive and grout" part of Tony's post is crucial - plywood and tiles expand and contract at different rates and you need an adhesive with flex to compensate.

[Alan Zoff]

I might put the latex under the plywood, as well as to fix the tiles, while I am at it. Should help to plug any gaps and perhaps reduce noise.

[pip24]

We first screwed all the floorboards down (even though they were not loose) then stapled chicken mesh to the floor boards for reinforcing and used the flexible adhesive and grout. It has been done for nearly four years and there has been no problems.

[Bones]

We're having similar problems:

Our bathroom already has tiles laid down, but they have cracked due to the uneven floor.

I wonder if the existing tiling precludes the need for plywood? My only other worry is that the floor will not support the weight of two layers of tiles, but I suppose that can't be answered without someone taking a look?

[Gastines]

There are several tile adhesives available now that allow you to tile on wood boards. Best to make sure you fix,preferably screw down, any loose boards,making sure you dont hit any water or electricity supply. I usually tile on marine ply/waterproof ply but remember if you do this that you will get a difference in the floor level of ply +tile. You may have to ease the door and put metal edge in doorway unless you have carpet on the other side.

Regards.   www.ourinns.org