Bathroom Renovation Project

[juan]

Hi Doog,

I have already bought the floor tiles which are 200mm square. I will be using them on the hob as well. Have dispensed with the idea of tiling on the diagonal mainly due to the tiling on the hob will be on the square. Beaumonts suggested use 3mm gap on the hob same as the floor and line up the joins. If I thought it would look ok I would centre the tiles on the hob with 1.5mm joins and then offset the joins on the floor to suit the door opening and the wall and use the 3mm joins. Yes I agree not much will be seen under the WC and the Vanity and that is the place for the odd cuts. I intend to start the tiles from the brass angle to be placed across the door but think it would look better if the tiles were centred on the door opening so that the cut tiles around the jambs are the same on both sides of the opening. I have to consider the set down for the shower as well so that I do not get a small slice of tile at the brass angle or that may look odd as well. So many damn decisions on tiling. I delay every decision I can to prevent my brain overloading but getting very near to having to make a decision as walls will be finished as far as I can go soon.

I will look at the Stegbar screens but I know they like to have the all tiling finished nice and level before they measure up so that decision has been given a lower priority. Same with the lighting I can delay decision on that for a while but agree the downlights seem better idea but thought I would wait until all the bits and pieces are in then decide the lighting.

I am waiting on Seima to reopen after the break in Adelaide as I know they have some interesting 1200mm vanity tops in vitreous china. Maybe if I could get one at a reasonable price I would build or get built a wall hung cabinet in the style and colour I want. Again the plumbing will accept any unit and there is no rush on that decision either.

[juan]

I have started laying out the tiles for the floor and hob to see how I can do it the with the least pain.

Attachment 64154Attachment 64155

My plan is to start the full tile at the 50mm x 50mm brass angle which I wll set in the screed across the door opening and half way under the door. I can neatly fit 4 tiles in between the door jambs. As it works out I will then get a full tile all the way down the long side of the room on the door side. The room turns out to be perfectly square on that side (have not checked the other side but it looks like it will be good also. The negative is that when I reach the hob I will have a tile cut 60mm long at the hob wall. Does this sound ok or should I centre the tiles and have a 130mm cut tile at the door and the hob??
I think I will line up the joins on the hob and the floor meaning 3mm gaps on the hob and a cut tile about 140mm wide on the hob on the dunny side of the room and a full tile on the door side. I do not think this diffence will be too noticeable as I am sure the women will load up the hob top ends with shampoo and the like. The front face of the hob on the toilet side will be hidden in the large part by the toilet.

I think tomorrow I may tile the top of the hob and the top row of the hob front. It would then be possible to finish the wall tiling around the hob and install the bath prior to screeding the floor. As stated previously I think I can get away with just butting the tiles on the leading edge of the hob rather than bevelling them or using edging strip.

Any comments on the proposed layout would be appreciated.

Cheers

[Dirty Doogie]

Geez you are lucky Juan LOL.

Sometimes you just have to have a cut tile somewhere and I dont think that the cut down the far end looks too bad. A mid to dark shade of grout and you won't notice any cuts.

Hmm I dont know about the dark tile color though but anyway ....

Just a quick point about your toilet - Is it one of the type that can be concreted down or bedded down?? Depending on the slope of your scree you will probably find that the front edge and or side of the pan needs to be packed up.

Generally it looks better if the pan has a minimum of silicone around it and I like to lay out my tiles and mark where the tiles under the pan are going to be and level the scree across these tiles.

Looking good so far

Doog

[juan]

Hi Doog,

I agree the floor tile colour is a little darker than I originally had in mind but the women chose. They first chose a plain chocolate brown tile which was much darker and would have shown every water mark. Luckily they compromised on a lighter shade with a mottled pattern which should be better in hiding water marks and be less severe overall on the eyes. It is a very bright bathroom having an east facing window and I think it will be ok.

The toilet system is a Coroma Opal close coupled suite that will be bedded in mortar or whatever. I will take your advice and markout exactly where it will go and level the screed under those tiles. I was lucky with the water inlet for the toilet as it is exactly in the right place. I had thought it was too low until I did some level checking.

Have sorted and mixed all the boxes of floor tiles as per instruction and selected about 20 tiles with heaps of overspray on one side that I can use for the hob top leading edge. I will have a box plus of floor tiles left over so worst case senario is I redo the front edge and fit an edge strip one day it they look to crappy or get damaged.

I did a layout of the shower screen and vanity area and will comfortably get away with a 500mm deep vanity unit cabinet which is a relief as I can now chose the wall hung unit I like rather than a narrow cabinet semi recessed one which are a bit like rocking horse manure.

Well I suppose I should go and tile the top of the hob as it will not do itself.

Cheers

[juan]

Well 2 hours to fix about 16 tiles, I would never make living as a tiler. What a pain to line up the tiles on the top and face of the hob so as to get a possible acceptable external corner on the front of the hob. Hopefully it will get easier from here.

Attachment 64268

[Dirty Doogie]

Yeh it can sure take time - imagine if you didn"t have another bathroom lol

[juan]

Well I have got my levels calculated for the screed. I drilled a few holes in the slab, plugged them and used plasterboard screws as guides when I am screeding and to fine tune the levels (I hope). I can pull them out as I go or leave them there for that matter.

Have laid out my heating cables roughly and run the system for a few minutes to check it is working. Will tidy it up a bit tomorrow.

Attachment 65017

Looks ok so far. Got the whole kit for around $177(including shipping and insurance) from this guy on eBay http://www.vodoley91.com/?nav=products
Great to deal with no matter how many stupid questions you ask he always get back to you asap.

Maybe on the weekend I might mix up some mud and screed it. Everyone bar one keeps telling me plastering sand is ok for the screed. I will make a few more enquiries on that one tomorrow.

[Dirty Doogie]

plastering sand ? I've always used clean washed river sand for screes and ramping. plastering sand is really fine but should do the trick also.

[juan]

I took much advice on what sand to use and 9/10 said plastering sand or concrete sand were both ok. Technical rep for Brighton Cement said they do not recommend plastering sand as it has a little to much clay in it and may crack . He recommended concrete sand. Thats what I used. Purchased .25 ton of the stuff and 4 bags of Brighton cement and it worked out perfect almost for about 5.5m2 of floor area at about 35mm ave depth.

Also purchased a litre of Kemcrete which I used to prime the floor before screeding and added to the water in the screed mix as a bonding agent.
Attachment 65068

Mixed the screed as dry as was possible to work it and found the guide screws in the floor for the levels were fantastic. Have left them there and they will hold the screed to the slab (ha ha) if my work is shoddy.

Tomorrow I should be able to give her a final rub down with a brick to knock of any high spots but I think it is ok as it is. Will chuck a sheet of plastic over it tomorrow but for now it is trying to rain and humidity is high so should not dry out to quick.

Actually the task was very straight forward and went well - I had been worried for some time about doing this myself. I will leave it for a few days then tile it.

Attachment 65069

[Dirty Doogie]

Sounds like it went petty straight forward. What sort of sand is "concrete sand" ?

In the pic the scree surface looks very wet - was water coming to the surface? This can cause problems with the additive.

[juan]

I think it is washed river sand. I spoke to 5 sand and metal suppliers and they all said this is what they supply the tilers for screeding.

Mixed it in 4 small batches and a little moisture came to the surface in one batch as I had to work it quite a bit to get the levels. Moisture dissappeared very quickly. Photo was taken 5 mins after last batch was laid. I think the primer acts as a sealer as well and holds the moisture in the screed longer.
Hope she will be ok.

[juan]

The floor tiling is moving slowly towards that spot where the close coupled toilet suite (Caroma Opal) will reside.

What is the recommended method of tiling and installing the WC. Should I just tile the whole floor and forget the dunny for now or should I leave a couple of tiles off under the toilet to let her grip the floor and be more stable? Tiles are a bit smooth and was worried that the bog under the pan may not hold too well??

Any advice welcome

cheers

[Dirty Doogie]

Does the pan have any holes for screw down fixing ?? it is usually the screws that hold pans down - and a mortar bedding in the top line jobs.

Generally you layout and space the tiles, numbering them with a nikko or paint pen - position the toilet exactly and mark on the tiles the outer edge of the pan and also push the pen into the screw holes - anything so you get a mark where the screws go through.

Then if you have a grout in only pan (rare) or wish to use grout as well as screws -

lift the pan away and make a paper template of the base wall thicknesses and mortar voids. Cut the template out and position on marked floor tiles - then mark the void spaces onto the tiles.

You now have the option of either

1) fixing pan first and cutting tiles around it (hard option if you dont know how to grind away tiles) ..

or 2) fix tiles down after pre drilling an oversize hole for screws (make sure you measure the angle that the screws are set and drill a hole in tile wide enough) and chipping away tile for waste pipe. If you are going to mortar down as well - or only - you cut out the sections of tiles where the pan voids are located and fix tiles.

Simple huh?

Do you remember I suggested you set the tiles under the pan level ? or maybe 2 mm max fall? You'll find out why quite soon LOL.

Tip : if you are screwing down pan do not put drill bit into hole in pan to drill. make position on scree and drill without tile in position. Screwing down will puncture your waterproofing membrane. When fixing pan down - fill pilot hole with polyurethane sealnt - push in plastic expanding masonry grip - spread extruded polyurethane across base of hole in tile - then fix pan down.

[juan]

Thanks Doog,

I have taken care to get the floor level where the pan will sit so that should not be an issue.
Found the technical sheet on the unit and it appears to indicate there are 2 fixing options -
1. Bedding in 3:1 sand cement mix to a depth of 60mm OR
2. Screw fixing using a Caroma Screw fixing kit and acetic cured silicone sealant

I will get the plumber back to fit the toilet and connect the water and waste outlet. Was just wondering if I should tile the floor under it first. Option 2 the screw fixing sounds like the go and I could take your advice and mark out and pre drill the fixing holes in the tiles before laying them.

Both the waste pipe position and water supply inlet are correctly located so that is one less thing to worry about.

[Dirty Doogie]

Yeh put the tiles down first - unless you think you can do the cuts to fit around the pan. drill the hole for screws in tiles before laying. Even with the greatest care tiles can still crack when you try and drill them.