Hi, we are currently tiling our bathroom floor, and my uncle is the one that was doing it. He started with plywood 1 1/4" thick, and started putting down the thinset in 4 square foot sections, and I guess he didn't put down enough thinset, all the tiles came right up when it dried. Now he can't come back to fix it until friday, so I'm thinking I want to do it myself. Any suggestions on an easy way to fix this?
Hi, We put tile in our bathroom a few years ago, before we installed it my husband asked the man at the store if anything specail needed to be done to the surface prior to installing, he told us since it was going in the bathroom whether it was on the floor or wall you need concrete board over the plywood. We put ours in the shower area and it's been years. No problem, looks great. By the way, they told us that the conrete board should be used over plywood in whatever situation you would be putting the tiles, meaning whatever room you install the tile put concrete board down before the tile. Hope this helps. RoseMary B
Stephanie: A better base for the bathroom floor is a cementitious board such as hardy backer, found in the flooring/tile section of big box building stores. It needs no prep; it is ready for thin set and ceramic tile. It can be scored with a knife and broken; a saw is not necessary.
Unfortunately, the plywood needs to be removed. It is not an acceptable base for ceramic tile on the floor because it absorbs the water out of the thinset affecting both the drying time of the thinset and the board's shape, very likely warping it.
Ceramic tile can also be applied directly on concrete, if that is what you happen to have below the plywood. Be sure it is flat...again the big box tile expert can help you if not...there is a product that you can use if you have a slope or dip.
While it might seem like a huge amount of work, the prep time for your floor will be well worth it.
I'd call the tile store and find out if he has laid the right foundation for your tiles. When we had ours done, the foundation was a type of concrete sheet (I forget what it was called). Then check the type of quickset that he used. It'll be a mess to take it up now, but better than having problems for months and having to re-do it later. Good luck.
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