TILING PREPARATION

It is of great importance that the sub floor is adequately prepared for the tiling process. This involves ensuring that the floor is level, clean and dry. Throughout the preparation process the tiles should be stored in a clean and dry area.

Types of sub floor
The most suitable sub-floor for tiling is either a concrete, sand and cement screed or a sand and cement render. However, tiles may be laid on other surfaces such as timber floors. Although, if the original floor has old tiles, vinyl, cork, linoleum, woodblock or other old floor covering, it will be necessary to remove this before laying the tiles, and make sure the ground is clean, level and any old adhesive is removed.

Small irregularities in the floor may be evened out by the application of adhesive during the fixing process although greater issues should be addressed by levelling the sub-floor prior to the installation of the tiles using levelling compound, or plywood for existing timber subfloors.

Concrete & Sand + Cement Screeds
New concrete screeds should be left for a period of at least four weeks before the tiles are laid, while a new sand and cement screed or sand and cement render should be left for a period of two weeks. Depending on weather and site conditions, further time may be necessary.
Timber Floors
Timber floors may also be used as long as they are strong and stable enough to withstand the additional load. Timber floors can be strengthened by laying 15-18mm thick plywood or WBP plywood over the entire area to be tiled and screwed down at 15cm centres. A flexible adhesive and flexible grout should always be used when tiling on a timber subfloor.

Underfloor Heating
Natural stones are very good at storing and dispersing heat and hence work very well with Underfloor heating. It is important to ensure that this is turned off when the tiles are being laid and a flexible adhesive and flexible grout should always be used when tiling on Underfloor Heating.

Finished Floor Level
It is important to remember that the finished floor level will be raised by the thickness of the tile plus approximately 4mm for the adhesive. Thus some doors may need trimming and timber threshold strips may be required to solve varying level problem of adjoining rooms.

Types of walls
The most suitable walls are solid concrete rendered walls, the weight of stone tiles needs to be taken into consideration as the average weight of most stone tiles is 25 - 30kg/m. In wet areas it is advisable to use tile backer boards, which are lightweight, waterproof and can support the weight of stone tiles. Walls can be strengthened by laying 1mm thick plywood or WBP plywood over the entire area. A flexible adhesive and flexible grout should always be used when tiling walls.