Creaking Tiled Floor
Discussion
Hello PH,
I had a kitchen floor recently tiled.
The floor surface itself was half concrete and half floor boards.
As predicted, the floor boards, although flat needed to be nailed down and made solid to prevent any movement issues. The concrete floor was solid but needed to be levelled once the old tiles were removed.
The floor was fitted and all was well.
However, there is now some creaking and I am worried about any issues later on.
What will be difficult is ripping the floor up but this may be required......
Any advice?
I had a kitchen floor recently tiled.
The floor surface itself was half concrete and half floor boards.
As predicted, the floor boards, although flat needed to be nailed down and made solid to prevent any movement issues. The concrete floor was solid but needed to be levelled once the old tiles were removed.
The floor was fitted and all was well.
However, there is now some creaking and I am worried about any issues later on.
What will be difficult is ripping the floor up but this may be required......
Any advice?
'Tis f
ked!
I (stupidly) left the securing of the floor to the builder who installed our kitchen, as a result it is creaking and a couple of tiles have cracked.
Ply (for tiling) should be fixed about every 3" OK maybe a slight exaggeration but seriously, it is easier to add screws before than after!
ked!I (stupidly) left the securing of the floor to the builder who installed our kitchen, as a result it is creaking and a couple of tiles have cracked.
Ply (for tiling) should be fixed about every 3" OK maybe a slight exaggeration but seriously, it is easier to add screws before than after!
I had exactly this issue in our old bathroom. Right in the centre where I guess the "flex" was at maximum. I'm sorry to tell you that the only fix that worked in that case was indeed to raise the tiles and replace the floorboards with the equivalent depth plywood, (18mm IIRC) and screw down with very close centres. Once we did this and re tiled, no creaks.
Maybe, if you can isolate exactly where the creak is, you could remove some tiles locally and make a small access hole and inject some grip adhesive between the floor board and joist and re screw the area?
Best of luck sir.
Maybe, if you can isolate exactly where the creak is, you could remove some tiles locally and make a small access hole and inject some grip adhesive between the floor board and joist and re screw the area?
Best of luck sir.
The only reason tiles/grout would crack, is due to movement in the sub floor.
As others have meniotned this would be due to the floor incorrectly fixed down and the only real way of correcting this is lifting the lot up!
If the floor is half concrete and half timber, i would suggest lifting the floor boards and install 18mm WBP Ply, to meet the concrete line, however leave a 8-10mm gap between the concrete/timber.
The floor would need fixing every 150mm centres, however also make sure there are lots of noggins installed, which again will remove any flex between.
When installing the tiles, apply a PVA or adequate sealer to the floor prior and make sure flexible adhesive/grout is installed.
As others have meniotned this would be due to the floor incorrectly fixed down and the only real way of correcting this is lifting the lot up!
If the floor is half concrete and half timber, i would suggest lifting the floor boards and install 18mm WBP Ply, to meet the concrete line, however leave a 8-10mm gap between the concrete/timber.
The floor would need fixing every 150mm centres, however also make sure there are lots of noggins installed, which again will remove any flex between.
When installing the tiles, apply a PVA or adequate sealer to the floor prior and make sure flexible adhesive/grout is installed.
Edited by dafydd2008 on Wednesday 2nd March 09:18
Oh dear..........
I had some tiling done last year around july/august iirc.
I did all prep work, including take up all old floor boards, extra noggins between joists, wbp ply screwed approx every 4-5" ( excessive amounts really). It was silent and solid.
Floor then was bonded with some sort of pva (cant remember what it was)
Then ditra matt and then tiled, adhesive was mapei ultra, grout was mapei.Full bed on the tiles (600x400 limestone).
Believe me this floor was solid, no movement at all, you could stick a glass of water in the middle, jump up and down and it didn't move.
Now around christmas i noticed a creak or two and now after about 6 months the whole floor creaks BUT there are no cracks, grout is still 100%
I also have another room tiled the same way and there are about 3 creakers there too, again no visible cracks or visible deflection.
I also notice that walking on the landing just outside the bathroom i will occasionaly get a creak in the bathroom even though the actual floor boards are seperate completly but do share the same joists.
No cracks or damage in ceiling below which if there was movement in the joists i would imagine i would get.
I went mental making sure everything was done to as high a standard as possible so wtf is going on here. I hope and pray no cracks appear but i would imagine that if they would then it would be cracked now as its been creaking for a good 2 months.
I can (just) live with the creaks its the cracks i'm scared of.
Sorry to hijack but it may help either of us.
I had some tiling done last year around july/august iirc.
I did all prep work, including take up all old floor boards, extra noggins between joists, wbp ply screwed approx every 4-5" ( excessive amounts really). It was silent and solid.
Floor then was bonded with some sort of pva (cant remember what it was)
Then ditra matt and then tiled, adhesive was mapei ultra, grout was mapei.Full bed on the tiles (600x400 limestone).
Believe me this floor was solid, no movement at all, you could stick a glass of water in the middle, jump up and down and it didn't move.
Now around christmas i noticed a creak or two and now after about 6 months the whole floor creaks BUT there are no cracks, grout is still 100%
I also have another room tiled the same way and there are about 3 creakers there too, again no visible cracks or visible deflection.
I also notice that walking on the landing just outside the bathroom i will occasionaly get a creak in the bathroom even though the actual floor boards are seperate completly but do share the same joists.
No cracks or damage in ceiling below which if there was movement in the joists i would imagine i would get.
I went mental making sure everything was done to as high a standard as possible so wtf is going on here. I hope and pray no cracks appear but i would imagine that if they would then it would be cracked now as its been creaking for a good 2 months.
I can (just) live with the creaks its the cracks i'm scared of.
Sorry to hijack but it may help either of us.
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