Should I seal a wooden floor before tiling?

[Gooner]

I have removed some old tiles from our ensuite and now have the floorboard exposed. I will be putting cement sheet over the floors and walls, waterproofing and tiling.

My question is, should I quickly sand and seal the floorboards before I put the cement sheet and tiles over it? It may be redundant, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to protect the boards before they are tiled for another decade or so.

[Gooner]

bump...

no takers?

[seriph1]

I wouldn't - can't see that it will achieve the benefit you're looking for. No wear, no light, nothing other than what you use to fix the cement sheet with. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

On the other hand, I would. Especially in a wet area.

Having pulled up a few tiled floors, I'm convinced that sealing the timber first is a damned good idea. At worst, you've wasted a few extra dollars by being "over-cautious."

[Gooner]

I've already done it. I had some spare floor finish after polishing my floorboards. Really it is easy job. I wanted to sand the floor anyway to get it flat. The house is around 30 years old and looks like it had the original ensuite. Some water did get to the floorboards and slightly warped it over time. Therefore I sanded the floor back to get rid of some of the high spots.

Applying the finish/sealer after sanding took all of 15 minutes. I think I did the right thing. Just an extra level of protection.

By the way Skew, we live in the same area.....

[addy999]

No there is no need to steal a wooden flour ....You can do some polish work on floor boards...

[Eli]

You did do the right thing. You shouldn't tile a wet area (or sometimes even a 'dry' one) without sealing it.

[Gooner]

You did do the right thing. You shouldn't tile a wet area (or sometimes even a 'dry' one) without sealing it.

Yes, but the floorboards will have fibro sheeting over it, which will also be sealed and waterproofed. Therefore, sealing the floorboards is probably overkill, but glad I did it anyway.

[GraemeCook]

Bit late now, Gooner, but it would have been better to treat the floor with a fungicide (eg TBT) first, or instead on sealing it. Remember, rot is a fungus eating your floor.


Suppose it depends on whether you have a 20+ or a 30+ year time horizon.

But as kitchen installers now say that a custom kitchen is now likely to be replaced after only seven years, and bathrooms a little longer, I don't s=think it really matters.

Cheers

Graeme

[Gooner]

Bit late now, Gooner, but it would have been better to treat the floor with a fungicide (eg TBT) first, or instead on sealing it.

Good point....

Ahh well. Had some left over floor interior timber finish anyway....

[Eli]

Sorry Gooner, I didn't read your OP closely enough. My bad.

You shouldn't steal a wooden flour either.