How to Plywood a Floor for Tiling 

Really enjoying the banter and conversations. Chip shop,boots, future work. James is a relaxed character and a top tradesman well done sir I doth my cap.👍👍

Another great vid Roger. I wish all tradesman had the same attitude as James. 👍

I’m also belt and braces in all my work, it’s so nice to see this. I see so much of the polar opposite where it’s a “that’ll do” approach and the job is falling apart after a couple of years. The original installers usually fob off the customer with some nonsense leaving no choice but to start again and do a proper job.

It’s jurgen Klopp

Brilliant video and super helpful for me to replace my bathroom floor. The floor I have just ripped up with tiling on top did not have a single nogging between the joists which is probably why the tiles had cracked as you could see there was movement. I am not sure if it helps anyone but received this from one of the manufacturers of decoupling membranes: Timber Substrates Codes of Practise BS 5385 Part 3 may be useful regarding the use of timber substrates for tiled applications. BS 5385-3, which is the Code of practice for the design and installation of internal and external ceramic and mosaic floor tiling in normal conditions, includes the following recommendations under section 6.3.4 Timber bases: New timber bases - New timber bases should be constructed with noggings between the joists. external grade plywood, of 15 mm minimum thickness, should be securely screwed to both the joists and noggings at a maximum of 300 mm intervals. All junctions between boards should be supported by noggings or joists. If necessary to further strengthen the floor or reduce the risk of movement, additional layers with a minimum thickness of 10 mm should be securely screwed to the plywood at 300 mm centres, ensuring the joints do not coincide. Existing timber bases - Where possible, existing boards should be removed and the recommendations for new timber bases followed. For floors of small area (e.g. a single sheet/board or where board joints are unlikely to cause problems) it may be possible to achieve the required rigidity by securely screwing external grade plywood (minimum thickness of 15 mm) to the existing board/floor board systems. ----------------------- I hope this helps someone else and shows James from skill builder is not going over the top when complying with BS 5385-3. Massive thank you SKill builder :-)

So great to see guys really passionate about their work 👌🏼

About time James had his own channel. I really enjoy seeing his workmanship.

Best pair of boots I've ever bought are a brand called Sixton. Im wearing the same pair 6 days a week for just over 2 years now (as a carpenter) and they still feel like a new boot and still have the toes intact.

James, I could watch you all day cuz. Keep up the great work.

Beautiful job as ever chaps 🧱👍🏼

2:12 😍 I'm a chippy and I live the look of that hammer 🔨 nice work boys great job!!

enjoy these on site with James. keep up the good work!

I wouldn’t want to be the next person to take that up great job

Hi James & Ian - what vans you do both have? Would love a van tour at some point! Cheers guys, you always do a first class job!

Great work I like using 22mm T&G plywood, glue screw so strong even without noggings.

Just had to do similar up in our own bathroom, floor was out 2.5” over 10’ 😂. Turned out 1 joist completely missing, next one had been cut in half and just laying there. How one of us hadn’t come through the ceiling when having a bath I’ll never know - lathe and plaster ceiling holding it up I reckon 😮😂

Cheers lads

Excellent

On a bathroom full ripout/redo, found serious damage from long-term small leaks and now had to take the woodfloor, vapour, subfloor chipboard and insulation up. There's a concrete screed ( cottage/barn build) so no idea if there even a dpm. Ideally I'd like to dry out and level ( old floor concave so recticel has deformed and will be bouncy). If there any leveling materials compatible with higher RH? Either that it's old insulation, new t&g MR boards and a fracture mat before porcelain. Niggling thoughts of the new boards springing as they can't be fixed down. Any ideas. Thanks in advance

If a jobs worth doing, it's worth doing right ❓🤔 These guys do it Right ✅ 👏 👏👏👏😉

yes,tiles and movement do not go together, so you have done a great job there. as long as the tiler uses flexible adhesive and grout it will be fine.

Very informative would liked to have seen it tiled thanks for posting bren

Would you suggest this approach upstairs. I'm in a 1950's Semi and will be putting down laminate floor The floorboards are old, knackered and creeky. I would like to put the flooring down the best way possible

About to tile mine. Victorian pile that once had tiles. I'm not ripping up 25mm pitch pine boards. Hardie backer, urethane glue and screw, encaustic tiles on flexible glue.

Tried doing this for a floating floor. Both pieces of ply I have are warped 4" across their length and no matter what trick or tip I try - they ain't getting any better. Wondering if I should have just used chipboard in the first place.

So many builders think screws are not necessary in carpentry. What they mean is, "my nail gun is fast". Nice to see them using screws, since they went to all that trouble and expense to remove the floor, why not do it, obviously they have the budget to have it this way,

I had the very same problem with the steel toecaps boots cutting through the front of leather boots so I use Dickies Medway Boots & I spend the majority of my day on my knees too. depending on work you will easily get 12+ months before the even look rough. So no winter slush in the toes👍🏻

Would it be better to use Spax Wirox 60m TX WIROX Screw. I used them first for instaling chipboard. Then I tried them for the floorboards and plywood. Great screws. Can I also ask how to seal plywood edges. I am doing a ply floor for my bathroom. The ply is lv 3 exterior grade. I read that I should seal the edges.

2:55 had me in stitches

Hi Could you please tell me what tracks are compatible with the ERBAUER Track saw

Can tiling on flat roof, on bituminous felt? Or on epdm membrane to put pads 4x2 joist, decking..? Want to make terrace on flat roof what can use? What is best option?

hi iv just sent back a pair of De Walt safety shoes after 6 month ware coming apart in the same way ,many years ago the boots had the steel toe caps on the outside and seem to last a lot longer it seems looks and style are more important than longevity.

Love those Spectre Wood Screws you used in the vid. I get them from Toolstation & find they're on a par with Spax Wood Screws in use & cost about 1/3 of the price. Son buys them cheap "Silver" Wood Screws that drives me bonkers .... spend more time trying to get them to drive in & either rounding the Philips Slot or breaking Impact Bits (total false economy).

Can you use 18mm hardwood ply to replace floor then tile on?

What thickness was the ply you used?

Was the marine ply necessary? T&G ply or osb could be a cheaper allternative(22mm)? Also spax do a flooring screw, its the bollocks!

Daft question - why not use grade 3 OSB (heavy duty damp resistant)?

What would you do if one of the walls sits on the floorboards? Also love the videos.

Great advice James regarding how tiler preps floor before tiling. Back in the day i used to tile straight onto ply with no problems at all. Done it for years. But floors started to fail. Adhesive just would not bond. You can get 2 part rubberised adhesive (BAL Flex) which sticks anything to anything but is expensive and nasty to work with and did have a tendency to shrink which could cause lippage problems as it dried. Way to go is always glue and screw down Backer Boards, i like James Hardie. On a side note. A while back i had a load of sheets of ply on my van overnight. Drove to work the following morning and my eyes and throat was on fire, really burning and painful. Researched that and it's called 'off gassing'. During manufacturing formaldehyde glues, as well as other compounds are used. Nasty stuff.

Look on the bright side, those boots were much cheaper than your Painters Centre Beanie!!!

Great work folks. Quick question though why wasn't the mouldy wall behind the old skirting position not replaced out first?

Hi Roger, some great content as always 🙌 My ground floor is also joisted and the void is roughly around 1.5 - 2 feet deep I believe. We’re having a full home renovation & I’m hoping to have the vast majority of downstairs tiled and really want under floor heating (wet) putting in. Rather than going through all the procedures to make the joists acceptable for this do you think it would be better to just pull it all out and fill the void with the required hardcore/cement etc and start a fresh so to speak? It’s worth mentioning my home is semi detached so I don’t know if that complicates the matter at all? Thanks a lot Roger, hope you can help 👍

How good is the warranty on the boots ? I dont think I've had a pair get that bad before after six weeks and that's when i have used them in concrete and you know what that does to them . I normally change mine around 3 months but that is cause of health issues . I think you have put them on the bench grinder . I thought they looked really comfortable when you started wearing but that's not good after 6 weeks .

I know it varies A LOT but ballpark figure for the cost of a builder to do this on a 5.8m x 3.5m room?

I bought a pair of Heckel composite toe cap boots 2 years ago which were quite pricey - around £80 at the time. Admitidly I'm an field service tech so may not take as much abuse, but they are as comfortable as day one and have shown no sign of degrading like that whatsoever. The only thing that's degraded is the water proofness, and that's easily rectified by a slathering of Renapur.

Why no insulation fitted under the floor?

Anyone know the thickness of this ply? Floor supplier store guy is telling me to re-sheet with 6mm ahead of putting down engineered wood flooring. I said, colour me skeptical.

Jesus, I'd expect you'd have to be dragged on your front behind a horse to get damage to your shoes like that within 6 weeks. Excellent prep-work on that floor. 👌🏻

Great video by the way. So will tiles be put straight onto that plywood or will a primer of some Sort need to be applied before putting down adhesive and tiles?

Noce video guys showing that ply can be used to tile onto. Should there not be an expansion gap around the ply though?

Great video! James is that a freud blade? If so how does it compare to the festool blades? Thanks 👍

Do you not need to leave a 10mm expansion gap round the edges of the ply? Looked a tight fit

Got to be 25mm ply. Just did one. Amazing how stiff 25mm it is.

I like to put the screws every 150 mm but I add wood glue to the top of the joists for that extra stick. by doing that I think it stops any future movement. well that's my theory. I use wpp because it's usually as cheap as normal ply. it wasn't but for some reason it is now.

NOOICE!

It looks like you are voting with your feet when it comes to the indestructible footwear and Dulux/AkzoNobel products. You’ve gone with a Ronseal wood preserver for the floor joists. Hopefully the high quality job you’ve done on the floor will go a long way towards winning you the loft conversion and house extension works.

Sre you going to go back to see the tiling job Richard as well.

These English boys don’t f&@k around! Great video! Prep like this would save me and my customers many nightmares.

how come no floor insulation?

Do you not need to leave an expansion gap for the plywood? Or is it not needed due to the amount of fixings used?

What will be your between wood and tile uncoupling method? Schluter-DITRA? Other product?

I would have used polymer adhesive too!

Hi just ribbed up a bathroom ...walls and floor...Tiles came off wall easy enough but the floor was tuff going.Every tile was rock solid and pulled most of the ply with it...I have taken up the old ply aswell.Old ply was definitely no more than 6mm ..possibly less..I have read on forms 6mm should not be used only 18mm upwards...I intended putting 6mm ply back screw every 6 inches prime and tile over..If you google it most say 6mm no way..I did find one comment from a guy who took up a floor over 20 years old on 6mm ply and it was one of the hardest floors he ever had to take up.Tiles were rock solid like mine not one was loose or hollow...So do you think I should stick to my first idea of 6mm ply..House is 20 years old bathroom floor is small ..only about 4 yards on floor..Flooring boards won't probably move now after 20 years..There was a few stains order ply but tiles were solid as a rock...had to kanga each one off. So why is everybody against 6mm ply if it put down right ..thanks

Very big channel did u do anything on soundproofing?

Why is your mobile ringing from underneath those boards?

Try apache stuff. Its underrated but bloody good stuff and not stupid expensive

I've done this kinda thing several times for customers (at the request of the person doing the flooring) like you I totally over engineered it, but still wasnt confident. Never had a call back, but the idea of ceramic tiles on a timber floor just doesn't sit well with me..... how do you feel about that?

I want to do my bathroom but I have zero equipment for the job 😂

Belt and braces, this reminds me when my dad told me that I should wear a condom even if your lady friend is on the pill.

Hi Guy’s awesome video love to see the job done properly wouldn’t expect anything else from James true craftsman, the only thing I would of done is insulated but maybe client didn’t want to do it. Have a awesome week Guy’s all the best Tony 👍

If James’ toes are anything to go by I’m surprised he’s got any knees left

Try some Englebert Strauss footwear, not cheap but very good.

I do envy you lot, that's how I remember it when I was in the building trade in the 80's and 90'. I have to ask... What was that tool you prised between the wall and board edge , (4.50)???

I'd heard that Marine ply shouldn't be used as a tiling sub base as the chemicals used to water proof the ply can seep into and stain the grout. Don't know for sure if it's true however.

Membrane is a must no matter which ply marine or submarine

If I wanted to get in touch with James, how do I make this possible?

Never use ply to tile on. Use a cement based board.

I had a pair of ballistic nylon work boots that I inherited from my older brother that he used from tree planting in northern Canada that lasted 16 YEARS, no joke. I retired them when the sole literally wore through. My next pair didn't make it past 6 months. Everything these days seems to blow out to easily: the toe, the heel, the sides. I'd rather pay 500 for something that lasts as opposed to 250 for a 'supposedly good boot' that doesn't but they don't seem to exist anymore.

No insulation?

My brother-in-law used to be a contract brickie and got through a pair of trousers in 4-6 weeks, he always looked like he was homeless!

For one second I thought it was Jürgen Klopp doing some tiling!

👍

Marine ply is for (as the name implies) building boats, it has no joins in the layers, it's total overkill in construction. Far Easter WBP hard wood ply it's the same thing , it just has overlaping joins in the layers. You'll save a packet with far Eastern and is probably still over the top for a floor.

And how much did you charge for this?

Shorts not normally allowed on site, PPE states long trousers.

Roger you'll be punting Viagra next in how it helps you while working at altitude and the benefit is you can Shah the Mrs at the same time.

😊👍

Why use ply over chipboard

The track saws, do they just sit on the wood, or is it fixed some how?

... so you have a trademark for all SkillBuilder collaborators , Ear Defenders are on the Neck .

A chippy loves a chippy. 🍟

Should have insulated the underfloor while the floor was up. Good job on the floor though!

Has James a RU-vid channel

Can you use chipboard?

The price of WBP can make your eyes water.

You cant beat Dewalt boots.

Can we get a video of your tiler please!!!

Will you follow this up with the tiling please ?

Enjoyed the video, but wouldn’t it have been better and almost the same price to concrete the floor? 🤔

What’s happened with insulation😅😂