Bathroom flooring

[ayashasky]

Hi, its a long time since my last post and we have now moved into an 1830s mixed cob/brick cottage in the SW, fortunately not on the local flood plains.....
My question is concerning bathroom floors.We are moving the bathroom upstairs, where all the floors are rather wavy in profile.We want to onstall a large showe, but ofcourse shower trays need flat bottoms to sit on.....I am wondering how to achieve this....the floor boards are mixed sizes, from 11 inchex to wide to others that are poss about 5 inches wide. Would flooring chipboard be better, although I am loathed to remove the floor boards, although we can use them elsewhere in the house. But if we go down the flooring chipboard route, we would perhaps have a slightly flatter floor...or should we perhaps build a little platform for the shower to sit on...
Would be grateful for any ideas as I dont really want to loose the boards...many thanks for any ideas!

 

[Flyfisher]

Coincidentally, we're going through the same deliberations at the moment as we also have uneven original floorboards underneath the 6mm ply and carpet that has been laid over them in the existing bathroom.

The first thing we've decided is not to disturb the floorboards at all. It's destructive and not really necessary. We're thinking of simply covering the floor with something substantial, like 18mm marine or WBP plywood and tiling it. We've also been told about some sort of waterproof 'tilebacker' board but are waiting for details about them. I wouldn't choose chipboard for bathrooms, although I've been told there are completely waterproof types available these days so I'm probably out of date on that.

For the shower, we plan to have some sort of thin platform to level out the floor. In a lesser room we have used a shower tray with individually adjustable feet that could be used to adjust for an uneven floor. It's an acrylic shower base with upstands, which is perfectly serviceable and leak-proof but perhaps not ideal for a main bathroom, depending on what you're aiming for. We're certainly learning about the frighteningly wide range of choice and prices involved in bathroom fittings! It's enough to drive me towards a tin bath in front of an open fire, though Mrs FF doesn't seem keen for some reason! :lol:

But that's about as far as we've got.

 

[Lime]

I had exactly this problem when I wanted to install a corner shower several years ago.

Make sure before doing any work/cutting that the proposed tray waste outlet does NOT foul a joist!

I used 18mm marine ply (MP) x 2 cut to match the outline of bottom of the ceramic tray.
Where the 2 sheets of MP met the wall, the top sheet was cut to allow at least an 18mm inset to accomodate sheets of MP to line either wall.
(The wall MP ends stood on the lower sheet of MP fitted to the floor.)
The skirting board was removed where the shower was to stand.

The MP sheets on the wall were slightly offset from the plaster wall with wood battens (mounted on wooden studs in plaster and lath wall) to make up for unevenness of the walls.
The offset also allowed me to run the pipes and cable up between the plaster and MP covering the wall.
The battens were packed out where necessary to make them flat and true.

The lower sheet of MP directly on the floor boards was levelled using a combination of sanding to the floorboards and neat cement between the floor and MP.
The floor and 2 MP sheets were screwed together.
A hole was made through them all to take the tray waste.

The ceramic tray was levelled on the upper MP using neat cement as recommended by the tray manufacturer.
The joint where the wall MPs met the floor MPs was sealed with copious neutral-cure low-modulus silicone to allow movement and a make a water seal.
The joint was not screwed together.
The wall MPs were then screwed to the battens, silicone sealing the corner joint where they met.

The ceramic tray was fitted and tiles fixed to the MP with waterproof tile adhesive.
Silicone was used to seal the tray edge, MP and tiles.

So far the arrangement has worked well.

 

[paulb33]

What do folks with floorboards in their bathrooms use as floor covering? We installed marmoleum (linoleum) ten years ago - appropriate to our 1901 house - but it deteriorated quickly.
Paul

 

[88v8]

What do folks with floorboards in their bathrooms use as floor covering? We installed marmoleum (linoleum) ten years ago - appropriate to our 1901 house - but it deteriorated quickly.
Paul

I coated our oak bathroom floor with 2-pack. Was still good after 20 years.
Perhaps depends how much splashing there will be.

Ivor

 

[paulb33]

What do folks with floorboards in their bathrooms use as floor covering? We installed marmoleum (linoleum) ten years ago - appropriate to our 1901 house - but it deteriorated quickly.
Paul

Perhaps depends how much splashing there will be.

Ivor

Indeed: Three kids under 8.....and a kitchen underneath.

 

[skier-hughes]

We built a platform for our shower tray and used linseed oil on our oak floorboards.

 

[Flyfisher]

I had exactly this problem when I wanted to install a corner shower several years ago.

Make sure before doing any work/cutting that the proposed tray waste outlet does NOT foul a joist!

I used 18mm marine ply (MP) x 2 cut to match the outline of bottom of the ceramic tray.
Where the 2 sheets of MP met the wall, the top sheet was cut to allow at least an 18mm inset to accomodate sheets of MP to line either wall.
(The wall MP ends stood on the lower sheet of MP fitted to the floor.)
The skirting board was removed where the shower was to stand.

The MP sheets on the wall were slightly offset from the plaster wall with wood battens (mounted on wooden studs in plaster and lath wall) to make up for unevenness of the walls.
The offset also allowed me to run the pipes and cable up between the plaster and MP covering the wall.
The battens were packed out where necessary to make them flat and true.

The lower sheet of MP directly on the floor boards was levelled using a combination of sanding to the floorboards and neat cement between the floor and MP.
The floor and 2 MP sheets were screwed together.
A hole was made through them all to take the tray waste.

The ceramic tray was levelled on the upper MP using neat cement as recommended by the tray manufacturer.
The joint where the wall MPs met the floor MPs was sealed with copious neutral-cure low-modulus silicone to allow movement and a make a water seal.
The joint was not screwed together.
The wall MPs were then screwed to the battens, silicone sealing the corner joint where they met.

The ceramic tray was fitted and tiles fixed to the MP with waterproof tile adhesive.
Silicone was used to seal the tray edge, MP and tiles.

So far the arrangement has worked well.

I've also built a shower cubicle from 18mm WBP ply fixed to a new close-studded wall at about 10 inch centres. The only difference is that I used a Mapei tanking kit to waterproof the ply and seal onto the shower tray upstand before tiling with a flexible tile adhesive (not the pre-mixed type). Two years on of daily use and it all seems fine.

As for the floor, Mrs FF favours tiles because the original floorboards are not really good enough to be left bare, though I'm a bit nervous about floor stability and therefore cracking. However, we've been assured by a number of tilers that it shouldn't be a problem providing the floor is properly prepared with a suitable solid covering, so I think that's probably what we'll do.

 

[ayashasky]

Lots of great ideas, thanks v. much.Will discuss with the other half and work out a plan. The problems dont stop there however, the walls are cob , we are thinking of putting up a well ventilated stud wall perhaps 6 inches away from the cob to prevent problems with water splashing etc.
Thanks for all the input....concurrently we are waiting for the somerset rain to stop so the roof can be redone.......!!!

 

[DJH]

In my experience 18mm ply is too thin and will deflect when screwed down and walked on. 25mm ply is better...

Doug