Tiling onto plywood which isn't level

kifi

Hi all

I am laying some floor tiles in a bathroom and have laid out the tiles before adhesive. In one area a couple of tiles are not 100% flat and rock a little. Plywood is what I'm tiling onto ( I didn't put down the ply, it was already installed by the builders)

Just wondering what's the most sensible way of rectifying this?

Thanks!

Skatedude

I.m not a builder, but a layer of laytex self leveling compound first. providing the ply floor is completely solid, not creaks or movement.

kifi

thanks, I was thinking that I might have to go this route. Otherwise, would it be an option to try apply additional tile adhesive to the back of the tile in this area to try compensate for the lack of flatness?

antiskeptic

kifi wrote: »

Hi all

I am laying some floor tiles in a bathroom and have laid out the tiles before adhesive. In one area a couple of tiles are not 100% flat and rock a little. Plywood is what I'm tiling onto ( I didn't put down the ply, it was already installed by the builders)

Just wondering what's the most sensible way of rectifying this?

Thanks!

How much out of flatness is involved? I'm sure adhesive would cope with a degree of uneveness in the floor

agusta

Using a 10mm or 12 mm trowel will do the trick.use less adhesive in the part of the floor thats high.If you put a skim of adhesive on the back of the tile too you will get a better bond.Best adhesive would be evo-stik flexi grey or any of the bal flexable adhesives.
If the floor has only 3/4 inch plywood on it and there is joints in it,it should be crossed over with 6 or 9 mm wbp plywood

Dtp1979

agusta wrote: »

Using a 10mm or 12 mm trowel will do the trick.use less adhesive in the part of the floor thats high.If you put a skim of adhesive on the back of the tile too you will get a better bond.Best adhesive would be evo-stik flexi grey or any of the bal flexable adhesives.
If the floor has only 3/4 inch plywood on it and there is joints in it,it should be crossed over with 6 or 9 mm wbp plywood

And screw the new sheet down every 6" squares

kifi

Thanks. It's only about 1 or 2 mm.

So if I understand correctly, the adhesive might cope with this amount of unevenness.

Maybe putting a thin sheet of ply in top again would be best, but I guess I round need to re mount the wash basin and toilet in that case

agusta

No need for another sheet of wbp plywood.from your picture it seems like you have plywood over floor boards already.What you do need is more screws to secure the plywood to the floorboards.If your plywood is 9mm thick,then 4x30 mm screws required.A 8mm trowel would be good to use,tile as normal,1 or 2 mm high spot wont matter with an 8mm trowel,just press the tile on that spot down a little more.Screws at 6 inch squares as Dtp1979 said

agusta

Op.i dont know if you have spotted this,,there is a grain flowing through your tile,It would look nicer if the grain of the tiles were all placed in the same direction

kifi

agusta wrote: »

No need for another sheet of wbp plywood.from your picture it seems like you have plywood over floor boards already.What you do need is more screws to secure the plywood to the floorboards.If your plywood is 9mm thick,then 4x30 mm screws required.A 8mm trowel would be good to use,tile as normal,1 or 2 mm high spot wont matter with an 8mm trowel,just press the tile on that spot down a little more.Screws at 6 inch squares as Dtp1979 said

Thanks. Will use additional scews. I already have a 10mm notched trowel, so even better I guess. Thanks for the pointer on the grain in the tile (you've a sharp eye), will pay attention to this when I start to stick them down.

kifi

One other thing, as you can see on the left hand side Ive removed the bath panel. She wants replaced with tile wall - would I just screw some ply and then some cement board here and tile on top?

agusta

yes,you could do something like that or you could make a frame using 3 x2 or 4x2 and then fix the cement board to this.you will end up with a 3 inch shelf outside the bath

dodzy

agusta wrote: »

yes,you could do something like that or you could make a frame using 3 x2 or 4x2 and then fix the cement board to this.you will end up with a 3 inch shelf outside the bath

Not necessarily. Should be able to get it flush if thin board is used.

agusta

dodzy wrote: »

Not necessarily. Should be able to get it flush if thin board is used.

True,but the small shelf on top look better

dodzy

agusta wrote: »

True,but the small shelf on top look better

Agreed if it's all around but just on one side, meh.