tiling on timber frame

[suengoo]

We are renovating an upstairs bathroom... the walls are timber framed. We have beefed up the wooden uprights using 90x45 s and boarded out/underlay with 6mm cementboard (walls and floor). The room is about 2m X 3.5m although the floor area for tiling is only about 2m x 1.5m. My concern is that we had planned to tile floor to ceiling (2M high) however on getting the tiles they seem VERY heavy. They are 317mm x 317mm and 9mm thick matte glazed porcelain. Will they be too heavy for the whole room. Will my bathroom end up in the kitchen?... there is a steel girder running under the floor but apart from that the original floor was ( and is wood beams and particleboard now level and covered by tile underlay) Thanks for your advice......

[Dirty Doogie]

How heavy are they?? I'm sure you'll be alright . Porcelian tiles are always a bit heavier. Even if the tiles are 2 kg each that is only 24 kg per metre sq.

[Barry_White]

You have a couple of things working for you here.

First of all the tiles are sitting on top of one another so all tiles are being supported by the bottom row but because they will be glued to the wall once the glue goes off each tile is self supporting.

As long as your sheeting is glued and securely screwed to the studs and as long as your flooring system meets requirements you shouldn't have any problem.

[Metung]

I stuck 450x450x12mm polished granite tiles, each weighing about 5-6kg, floor to ceiling in the bathroom. That was some months ago and they are all still there. I halved the recommended nail spacing for the vilaboard underlay and used longer shanked nails. The adhesive was pretty expensive - $90 a kit which consisted of a powder and a liquid additive which was diluted with water. That did no more than a dozen tiles which is nearly $8 each just to stick them on. I'm very happy with the result though, provided they stay where they are.

[suengoo]

i have weighed them and a box of 10 weighs just under 24kg as you suspected.... I also found a piece of info that states what subtrates can carry what weight and villaboard if fitted correctly seems to imply 50kg per sq. meter whereas skimplaster on plasterboard is only 20kg so i am getting more confident... and Bazza sounds encouraging too. only one way to find out!!

[suengoo]

we used heaps of liquid nails and screwed the villaboard to the wall studs about every 150-200mm where the uprights and noggins were..... will use flexible tile adhesive for tiles?

[mic-d]

Hardies says that for tile application over 20kg/m2, 9mm villaboard should be used and structural angles should also be screwed in vertical increments up the wall - increments depending on tile weight.

Cheers
Michael

[suengoo]

Oh dear Thank you for that Michael......i havent found that reference although i did find a comment in their product information that states maximum tile thickness on 6mm villaboard is 9mm