Thread: Wet area flooring

Hi Greg

Not sure what aquatite is but they should be able to give you a brochure with its span requirements. Its probably good to try to keep the joists spaced similar to the existing house.

I guess teh product you ahve is a cement sheet of some sort, in which case tiling on to it should be fine but its a good idea to put a waterproof membrane first anyway or a sealer primer if the memebrane isn't required.

. I was planning to use Aquatite tounge and groove sheets over 90 x 45 h3 beams but am unsure what spacings to have. Also can this stuff be tiled straight over. I also think it is called a different product in the Eastern States so I hope you know what I'm on about.
Regards
GT[/quote]

the spacings are directley associated with the thickness of the board e.g 16mm thick 450 mm spacing , 19mm thick 600mm spacing ,
the board has to have a fc sheet fixed to it before tiling as the tiles will seperate from the chipboard

Didn't realise Aquatite was chipboard. You can get special adhesives to tile straight to chipboard ... but I wouldn't risk that in a bathroom.

Why not just use cement sheet? I used it for all of my wet areas. You can tile straight over it and it's not going to fall to bits if it gets wet. Not sure of the regs over there but we were required to apply a waterproof membrane to the entire floor in all wet areas, then the tiles were laid over a cement screed on top of that. You could get the same result using chipboard flooring and a tile underlay with a membrane but I think it's going to cost more that way.

BTW Aquatite flooring is water resistant chipboard, Bondall Aquatite is a waterproofing membrane.

I have already purchased the flooring as that is what I was told before finding you guys. Now I am worried I have the wrong stuff. A few questions though. I plan to build and internal wall over these sheets to seperate the bathroom from the laundry. Should be ok right? Not load bearing at all. A cement screed would be a last resort as I thought about that before and was worried about cracking tiles. Sealing it with any brusheable sealer is not a problem. I guess I should also contact the manufacturer as well (although you will probably help more).

I had all my floors laid with a fall to the floor waste. Sounds like you're planning to lay yours flat. I don't really know what the done thing is these days with regard to that but I like mine to fall to the waste because I hate pools of water on a bathroom floor. I'm not sure why you're concerned about cracking tiles though?

I don't know much about the Aquatite flooring but plenty of bathrooms these days are built straight over chipboard flooring. There should not be any problem building a partition wall on the chipboard, whole houses are built that way. You should also be able to lay a cement screed under your tiles if you want to build the floors up and fall to the waste like I have done.

OK guys, I have the floor in and levelled it. Next step is to put a membrane sealer on it right? After that I want to tile it but also would like to have a fall towards a waste outlet. I was told there are tile glues that will stick to this board but if I put a membrane on will they still work? Anyway I guess next I will need to lay a cement screed over it to get the falls required. Is there a standard type mix or anything special to be aware of here? Thanks in advance.

This is the bit that I always get a tiler in for. I hate it. I'm not sure what the mix is - it's sand and cement fairly dry. Ping a line around the walls at the height you want it to finish and then work it down to your floor waste. Ours was put straight over the membrane. There's a primer that goes on first, then you paint on the membrane, then the screed over that. Our tiler laid the screed then came back the next day to tile it.

But before you do that, have you put in flanges for the floor waste? The membrane needs to be lapped over the flange so that you have a completely sealed floor and any water that gets through the tiles theoretically runs across the membrane and into the flange. We checked ours into the floor so that the top of the flange is flush with the flooring, then the membrane goes over that and forms a flat surface so you don't get moisture building up around the flange.

And don't forget the ally angle at the doorway to finish your tiles to. That needs to be in first as well.

Hey silentC, I just plugged your co-ordinates into Google Earth - very revealing. You cut a pretty dashing figure in your birthday suit. I hope I haven't been beaten to the punch on this.

Have a look at this stuff, it is what we are having laid.
Ours is going on a concrete floor but it will work with a cement sheeting over timber as well.
http://www.bradnams.com.au/waterstop/Default.asp
http://www.bradnams.com.au/waterstop/BWDWaterstop.pdf
http://www.bradnams.com.au/waterstop...stallation.pdf

The walls are Villaboard over a timber frame with a 'licquid applied waterproof membrane' over a strip of sealent around the joins.

Gees you have got good satellites over your house!!

Looks like a nice place.

Those are supposed to be the coordinates of the automated weather station at the airport, but they're a bit off.

My place is somewhere near by, but I'm not telling where. Don't want anyone perving on us from above!

(actually when the Google maps photos were taken, our house was still under construction, so the most you would see in that pic is the top of the chippy's head, and he always wore a hat )

Ok guys. I seem to be getting differing stories about how to put tiles over this stuff. One says that they won't stick because of the glue in the board. Another says it needs to be sealed with the right sealer but couldn't tell me which one. Another says I need to lay that 6mm tiling board over the whole lot then tile that. Isn't there a right way

I think each way will actually work as long as you do it properly with the correct materials.

But to answer the question ... shouldn't the supplier have a 'correct way'. They usually have a customer help line, which are sometimes surprisingly good.