Tiling the hall

[dandrew]

We have an 1867 Victorian villa that has recently had to have some dry rot treated which involved replacing about 1/3 of the floor boards in the hall. The hall floor (a suspended timber floor) had previously been sanded and stained by previous owners, so we now have a mixture of old pine boards and new pine boards. Although I could sand down the new boards to make them equal height with the old boards, and then stain them to match, I've always had a hankering for a geometric/encaustic tiled floor. If I were to tile the floor I understand it should first be boarded over with 6mm plywood and then tiled using a flexible adhesive. The tiles are about 10-12mm thick, which combined with the 6mm ply would result in an 18mm step between the tiled hall and the untiled rooms off it. Is a threshold strip the usual solution to the uneven heights or are there alternative solutions ?

 

[Penners]

Is a threshold strip the usual solution?

Seems the most obvious route to go, although an 18mm step sounds as though it might be a bit troublesome.

Thisis quite a useful guide for all types of tiling. On page 5 they show a method for tiling a tongue-and-groove floor without board-lining it first, using some sort of mesh in the cement. I don't know whether it's of any interest to you.

I can't vouch for the efficacy of this particular system, but I've been satisfied with other Bal products that I've used.

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

Whatever the tile adhesive manufacturers say the best results require a very solid foundation if you are to avoid later cracking or breakdown of the grouting.

6mm ply over your existing uneven boards would not really be ideal, plus you get the extra height gain. A better solution would be to remove all the existing boards and replace with 18mm ply, screwed down. You would then tile onto that, so gaining only the thickness of the tiles. With the boards up you would have a chance to ensure that the joists are level & flat, and that there is sufficient support for the ply. Also to carry out any electrical or other maintenance work - once your tiled floor is down it won't be coming back up for access!

It's a counsel of perfection, but given the cost of tiles and the labour involved in laying them it would be sensible to have the best possible start to the project.

 

[dandrew]

I'm dragging this thread back to life because I finally did tile the hall, having taken Andrew's suggestion of replacing the floorboards with 18mm ply screwed down. A picture of the finished hall now graces the front page of the tilers website (who I would be happy to recommend). You can visit them here:

http://www.advance-tiling.co.uk/

Hope you like it as much as me

David

 

[plasticpigeon]

That looks fantastic!

 

[DJH]

A smashing job, both the design and the execution. Well done....

Doug

 

[88v8]

Excellent. And thankyou for taking the trouble to update here.
Are these new tiles, or reclaims?

Ivor

 

[dandrew]

Thank you for your appreciation, however all the applause should go to the tilers who did the job.

Ivor, about 50% reclaimed (mostly Campbell, some Tamar & Coalville) and 50% new (Original Style).

David

 

[Dianne]

yes they look fab.

 

[Moo]

Wow! (words fail me!)

 

[Penners]

Absolutely gorgeous!

 

[Moo]

I think that's what's known as a consensus.

 

[Svenedin]

Fabulous. I've been considering doing this with my hall but the very high cost has stopped me so far. I am also concerned about access under the floor should it ever be needed (wiring and plumbing does not last for ever). I have thought about having a hatch made that can be lifted to allow access under the floor. It could be tiled and practically invisible. There is a deep void under my floor of about 4 feet so it only needs an entry point and everything else could be done from underneath.

 

[Zebra]

Svenedin that sounds like a brilliant idea, if only all houses had those. But, are you sure that the void under the floor gives access to everywhere all over the house, and there aren't those walls under the floor - what are those called? Or would it not matter, if you can get floorboards up in other rooms anyway? I speak as a sparky who's tried crawling under houses and it doesn't always work, you can't always get very far.... If your house has the consumer unit in the cupboard under the stairs as many houses do, then it would be good to not tile the cupboard under the stairs.... I know, but people do, so you can't lift the floor to rewire. In fact, it is even sometimes possible to send a rod right under the hall from the cupboard under the stairs to the living room, say, without lifting the hall floor, if you can get a board up in other rooms, so the hatch might not be necessary.

 

[Svenedin]

Hello Zebra. I don't think it would give access all over the house but as you say, in other rooms floorboards could be lifted. Aren't those walls called piers? Yes I have a consumer unit under the stairs but it's not a cupboard it's the cellar. In fact I have 2 consumer units: one in the hall cupboard for all the lighting and upstairs power and the main one in the cellar. Fortunately it is possible to run cable from the cellar directly under the floors of some of the rooms above so that bit is easy at least. I'll have a better idea of what is under the hall floor in a few months time when the distribution company comes to replace the main electricity cable. They tell me it is the oldest they have ever seen. About 1904 and originally for DC. Central heating pipes are another matter.... It may seem obsessive all of this but if I'm going to have a beautiful and very expensive encaustic tiled floor then the last thing I want is for it to be trashed either by me or by people after me.

Stephen