Hello,
Do I need to lay down cement sheet before I attach the shower base to the floor?
I will already be laying down cement sheet on the rest of the bathroom floor to lay tiles onto.
I have read that I can lay cement sheet down and use an adhesive of some sort or I can lay a mortar base directly onto the timber.
I'm not sure what is the best thing to do.
Thanks
Your really asking for trouble going over the timber floor. The best way to do it is rip up the timber floor and use compressed fibre cement sheets (15mm for 450mm joists or 18mm for 600mm joists)
If you are set on leaving the timber floor, yes you need to put a fibre cement underlay sheet ( 6mm) under the mortar bed for the shower base. You will need a mortar bed for the shower base as its important for it to be level - most floors aren't.
Just make sure the waterproofing is absolutely fautless as I don't need to tell you what a mess it will be if the timber floor gets wet and needs to be removed.
Thanks for your reply Luke.
So just a question....when a house is built on stumps (therefore having a timber floor of some sort) how are the showers installed? Do they cut squares out of the floor and replace it with the cement sheeting you mentioned?
Your really asking for trouble going over the timber floor. The best way to do it is rip up the timber floor and use compressed fibre cement sheets (15mm for 450mm joists or 18mm for 600mm joists)
If you are set on leaving the timber floor, yes you need to put a fibre cement underlay sheet ( 6mm) under the mortar bed for the shower base. You will need a mortar bed for the shower base as its important for it to be level - most floors aren't.
Just make sure the waterproofing is absolutely fautless as I don't need to tell you what a mess it will be if the timber floor gets wet and needs to be removed.
that's exactly what we did when we renovated our 70 year old house. fibre cement sheets over the floorboards & mortar bed for our shower base. DH then waterproofed the shower walls with something that looked black & smelled pretty bad.
He did a great job & once the tiling was complete, you couldn't tell that the bathroom was on timber floorboards.
The 'black smelly stuff' is a bitumen based sealer and not for use in bathrooms.
The problem with the way you did the reno is that a mortar bed is porous and will seep moisture into the timber subfloor.
Also, fibre cement tile underlay sheets are NOT waterproof and will also seep moisture throught to the timber subfloor.
Opal, houses built on piers generally had a suspended slab poured for the wet areas (bathrooms/ laundries) A house with these areas built with a timber subfloor has been built on the cheap - mine included, my bathroom has a mortar bed over the top of particle board flooring!!
If you are intending on staying in the house I would do it properly and cut out the timber floor.