floating timber flooring over ceramic tiles

[mickey_E]

Hi all,
I'm looking at putting in a floating timber floor over ceramic tiles and wanted to know if anyone has done this before.

They're pretty flat, but to be safe, I thought I'd put down a levelling compound and lay the floating floor on top. The ceramic tiles are currrently laid on top of a suspended concrete slab - so movement and moisture of the subfloor shouldn't be an issue.

Does this strategy sound reasonable or will i have to rip up the tile? Height won't be an issue, I can deal with the floors being up to 20mm higher than they currently are in the kitchen.

I'm after a look as close to real hardwood floor as possible and want a floor that comes raw, such that it can be finished once laid. All the prefinished products I've seen to date look fake.

I came across a product called armourfloor from Big RIver timbers, has anyone had experience with this product and know of alternate suppliers. We're after 130mm wide boards - most similar products I've seen only come up to 80mm or so.

I'm trying to avoid biting the bullet and ripping up the tiles and mortar bed and laying a traditional t&g floor over ply or battens as its a HUGE job.

Thanks

[Auspiciousdna]

Unless you buy the best quality floating floor, which are like a ply wood not that veneered MDF crap, I’d keep the tiles. Here’s a site that show the two different floating floors.


http://www.rug.com.au/timber.htm

[E. maculata]

G'day Micky,
Yes I have working knowledge of Big River Timbers Armourply flooring, I have around 10 sq m downstairs waiting to be laid in a bathroom.
No MDF in this stuff my friend, it is a 5 ply all hardwood including crossbands structural plywood flooring product that is currently recognised by PAA (plywood assoc of Aust) to be the best, they have won quite a few accolades for it, they also make the worlds strongest formply (F-34) so they sorta know what they're doing with ply.
Their head of sales & R&D tells me its quite capable of being used in bathrooms and laundry situations and I going to put it to the test here. they have also just put in a multi-million dollar finishing line so the average punter can just lay & walk away :D.

In short if you are going down the floating or cover floor route you could do far worse.

[ThePope]

Post your query to the guys at Big Rivers, they'd be in the best position to answer your question about laying over tiles. In theory can't see why not.

http://www.bigrivertimbers.com.au/dynamic/products.asp?id=1&sub_id=35

[Gaza]

Big river is a great product, going over tiles should not be an issue i would go for a high qulaity underlay not the std cheap 2mm stuff.

You will not really need the leveler as this may fail being applied over the polished surface of the tiles.

[mickey_E]

Thanks for those replies folks, feeling a bit more comfortable with the floating floor idea and even more relieved that the tiles won't need to come up. Will make some more inquiries and let you know how it turns out!

Mikey_E

[ctd]

I recently put down floorboards and had a good look at Big Rivers - seems like a great product. However, you might find the cost is not that much different to hardwood, so if the hardwood look is what you are wanting, the difference might not be too much. I went with hardwood in the end because I couldn't find the colour I wanted with the floating boards (the range is much more limited) - but both these points (colour, look) are aesthetic rather than anything against the Big River products (their customer service was also good - I had a couple of questions about their product and got a call within a few hours of posting the question on their site).

ps: Boral also has some quality floating floorboards. Everything else seems to be imported and does look cheap/fake.

[Gumby]

ps: Boral also has some quality floating floorboards. Everything else seems to be imported and does look cheap/fake.

I've heard some of the cheaper floating boards described as 'Early Caravan' :) They look it too.