Need help w/ my floor?
Question:Tiling a bathroom. I will be installing ceramic tile. There currently is ceramic tile on top of luaun. After I tear out the old tile and luaun, I will be putting cement board down. It is a plywood subfloor (second floor). The problem is, the floor is not level. The room is 5' x 10'. There is almost a full inch drop running the long way. What are my options to level the floor? Leveling compound? More plywood? If I am to use leveling compound, do I put that below or above the new cement board? My main concern is that the toilet sits down near the end where the floor dips (the toilet sits along the ten foot wall, so if you are facing the toilet, your left leg is higher than your right). The floor is on the same "plane" it is just not level. Do I even mess with leveling the floor, or should I just shim up the new toilet, assuming I have a good seal underneath. The tub is staying, at the high end of the floor, running the 5' length, otherwise I have the whole floor to work with/on.
Answers:
What the others said, except, DO NOT "shim" the CBU boards [remember CBU is not a structural element, it needs to have full contact with floor below], you'll ask for a failure. These boards should be floated on a bed of thinset and screwed down with the correct screws. If you cannot fix the problem at the frame just go with it. there are some self leveling product [see link below] that could fix the issue, keep in mind you'll have to raise the toilet flange so it rests on the tile...
There is a better product you could use. It is called "Ditra". easy to work with and it can be installed to be waterproof if needed. you can look into how to's over here.
http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/foru...
great guys, they'll walk you though the job. Just read a great quote over there; "Tile is looking for FLAT, it doesn't care about LEVEL". In other words, worry about making it flat and don't worry so much about it being perfectly level.
I think that leveling compound is not very easy to use and can lead to a real mess if you are not experienced with it. What I would do is use shims underneath the low end of the cement board. Also, bed it in morter. Make sure there is more morter on the low side so that when it hardens it aids the shims in giving you a solid flooring. Another note, if you are going to bed it in morter, dampen the cement board first with a sponge, otherwise it will suck the moisture out of the morter too quickly.
the floor drods 1" on 10'???? that is huge. i would check the structure first. is it an older home? it sounds like the structure may have settled.
i had an older home, and the hose settled more in the middle than any where else. i put in a jack column to lift the center back up. it was a slow proccess, maybe a quarter turn on the jack once a month.
You really should find out why the floor is so out of whack. Someone might have cut too deeply into a floor joist. Or it could be any other number of problems.
Self Leveling compound
I would rip up the plywood and check the floor joists. Being near the toilet they may be rotted. Also the plywood may be rotting from the bottom.
If you find that it is just a settling problem, check the foundation on that side. You may also have a sagging floor joist. If everything is in good order, I would shim the floor at the joists and put in a 3/4 inch plywood sub-floor that has been treated for moisture. Then put on the cement board and then lay my tile.
Most of those floor leveling compounds and mixes fail after a year or two.
Place your new cement board by embedding it on 'thin set' or 'ultra' flex mortar. You can take about 1/2 the level problem with this method. Second step, use a low grade mortar such as 'single' flex and a long aluminum straight edge, to level the remaining prior to setting tile. On the low end fasten shims of approximately 1/4 to 3/8" as a guide. pour the mortar on the floor and 'screed' from top of shims to 'nothing' (screed directly on the cement board) on the high end. After complete, allow mortar to set, and begin the tile setting as normal.
as long as the floor is flat, i wouldn"t bother with the floor leveler, all it will do is be one more place for something to fail in the future(moving a toilet up)
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