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Floor tiling question


joe90

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Well guys, I am starting to lay floor tiles and engineered wood flooring ( yes starting to work indoors now the sun in shining ?) We have underfloor heating so I know to leave a min 10mm gap around the tiles/wood at the edges which will be covered by skirting ( mostly!) I have places like door threshold, brick fireplace, patio doors where I will have no skirting and most are virtually flat with the tile/wood surface, and those that aren’t ( fireplace hearth) I hate quadrant beading. So, how can I create an expansion gap and not have a hole that will fill with dust/ rubbish. Is there a rubber type mastic I could use that would “give” but fill the gap? 

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My experience with bamboo flooring has been that it only tends to expand and contract very slightly, along one axis, perpendicular to the length of the boards.  As it happens, the two door thresholds which could have caused an issue (I wanted flat thresholds, with no sort of bump) were both aligned with the long axis of the boards.  I just left a small gap (maybe 5mm) and filled it with the flexible floor filler stuff that the flooring companies supply, which I think may be either an acrylic or MSP compound.  In practice I've seen no signs of movement at either of these joints, so I strongly suspect that the floor barely moves at all.

 

Not sure if engineered flooring behaves the same way or not, though.

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Have you heat on in the house? If yes remove the floor boards from any plastic packaging and let them dry out to the temperature of the room. If left like this for a few days they'll do most of their movement. Then it's only slight movement if any you'll have to worry about like JSHarris above. The mistake some people can make is taking them from a cold warehouse wrapped in plastic and laying them in a warm house where they do a lot of movement. 

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8 hours ago, joe90 said:

Well guys, I am starting to lay floor tiles and engineered wood flooring ( yes starting to work indoors now the sun in shining ?) We have underfloor heating so I know to leave a min 10mm gap around the tiles/wood at the edges which will be covered by skirting ( mostly!) I have places like door threshold, brick fireplace, patio doors where I will have no skirting and most are virtually flat with the tile/wood surface, and those that aren’t ( fireplace hearth) I hate quadrant beading. So, how can I create an expansion gap and not have a hole that will fill with dust/ rubbish. Is there a rubber type mastic I could use that would “give” but fill the gap? 

Regarding the tiles If you have an exspansion gap to all other edges there is no problem tiling up tight to Patios Same goes for the timber

As JS has already stated Beither will move that much

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3 hours ago, nod said:

Regarding the tiles If you have an exspansion gap to all other edges there is no problem tiling up tight to Patios Same goes for the timber

As JS has already stated Beither will move that much

Yup. Just leave a 4-5mm gap for a coloured silicone and job done. 

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Thanks guys for your replies, yes I thought 5mm silicone would work. No worries Nick, thanks for looking, apparently round here every trade is flat out so I’m going to suck it up and crack on myself, how hard can it be !!!!

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2 hours ago, joe90 said:

Thanks guys for your replies, yes I thought 5mm silicone would work. No worries Nick, thanks for looking, apparently round here every trade is flat out so I’m going to suck it up and crack on myself, how hard can it be !!!!

 

 

Let your knees and back tell you how hard it can be - they did for me!  I was practically unable to do anything useful for a week or so after laying the flooring...........

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1 hour ago, JSHarris said:

 

 

Let your knees and back tell you how hard it can be - they did for me!  I was practically unable to do anything useful for a week or so after laying the flooring...........

 

Yep, I’ll echo that. Laying flooring (wood, tiles etc) is bloody back breaking and destroys your knees. Get some Voltarol and Deep Heat in stock before you start :) 

 

 

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Yup, old guys rule eh, I am ready with the deep heat etc etc and a soak in the bath tonight. My comment was tongue in cheek as I new I was in for it. Have laid around 20% of the kitchen tiles  and having a sit down and a gawp at the forum whilst resting. I am supprised how fast “ fast set” adhesive goes off which is pushing me a tad, I think I will mix smaller batches ?

 

p.s. I got some “site” trousers with pockets for knee pads and they are great, the knees are not so bad ( yet!).

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2 hours ago, JSHarris said:

 

 

Let your knees and back tell you how hard it can be - they did for me!  I was practically unable to do anything useful for a week or so after laying the flooring...........

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DDETTnvRFcwc&ved=0ahUKEwiCuOCGmK3ZAhXhAsAKHX_aDSUQwqsBCCcwAA&usg=AOvVaw3jcuE92bjqlVETyCL_nEvx

We have around 180 sqm of large format porcelain tiles and I intend to make it easier on the body using the above. What I will save on labour I will buy/make things to assist in the cutting,lifting and just maybe a row at a time rather than all day at it. I have a disc problem and sportsman's knees so need to make it as easy as possible. 

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10 minutes ago, joe90 said:

In my opening remark I said I was also laying engineered wood flooring, can anyone recommend an adhesive  for this ( and a cheap source?).

 

 

I used Sikabond 95.  Not cheap at all, but it does seem to have done a very good job.  I have a feeling that someone( @Nickfromwales perhaps?) may have found a cheaper adhesive that was very like Sikabond, as I'm sure there's a thread here discussing this stuff, I just can't find it.

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13 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Thanks JSH, I could not find it either.

 

I found it by using a tip that someone gave me on another forum, that doesn't always seem to find things with the "search" facility.  Most search engines will have a site-specific search facility, so if you go into whichever search engine you use, type in the search term (I used "Sikabond" in this case) then a space, then the following with no spaces:

site:https://forum.buildhub.org.uk

you should find that all the search results come from Buildhub.

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5 hours ago, JSHarris said:

 

 

Let your knees and back tell you how hard it can be - they did for me!  I was practically unable to do anything useful for a week or so after laying the flooring...........

I've recently finished laying the bamboo flooring upstairs. The first day I didn't wear knee pads and felt it, but after that I wore them and no problems.

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Oddly enough I don't have trouble with my knees. I guess being an electrician I am immune, or they have no feeling left!!!!

 

I just find it a messy and tedious job, especially mixing adhesive from powder, which is why after just a few hours  have had enough for that day.

 

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