Help with screeding please. Do we need it or not?

triggywiggy · Aug 04, 2014 3:39 am

We are putting down 600 x 600 porcelain tiles through our living areas.

I have been quoted by a tiler to put them down after handover on top of screeding, $55 m2. However the SS has said he can get his tiler to do them prior to handover for $45 m2, but this would be straight on to the slab as the slad should not need screening according to SS.

Why would one tiler want to screed and another not. Do you need to screed a slabs living area?

Obviously having the tiles laid during lockup would be more adventitious to us so we could move in sooner and one less thing to sort ourselves after handover. But would no screed effect the quality and look of the job? These tiles are high gloss.

bashworth · Aug 04, 2014 7:56 am

The quality of the job will depend on how flat your slab actually is.

Most house concrete slabs aren't perfectly flat. The Victorian Guide to Standards and Tolerances allows a 5mm gap under a 3m straight edge!!

StructuralBIMGuy · Aug 04, 2014 8:13 am

Hi Triggywiggy
There are a lot of reasons why some tilers do and some dont..to prevent cracking is the main reason this occurs because of
1. Poor ground compaction causing uneven settlement
2. Concrete shrinks and cracks
3. Shrinkage mesh is inadequate or poorly positioned
4. High water content mix in concrete.
there are many more reasons and variables, but
its boils down to how confident you are in the supervisor and your tradesman?
Not having seen your house plan or construction and considering builders dont take responsibility for minor cracking
I would put a screed down...get guarantees either way HTH

mgilla · Aug 04, 2014 8:41 am

The quality of the job depends entirely on the ability of the tiler to lay the tiles flat whether the floor is levelled or not.
I've seen many tilers lay 6x6 perfectly, they have to put down then pull up every tile adding a bit of glue here or taking some from there, it takes a while but the end result is the same as if the floor was levelled.
It just depends on how much time the tiler takes and if they know what acceptable looks like, some don't.
Sorry structuralBIM but cracking has nothing to do with whether the slab was levelled or not.

sogg · Aug 04, 2014 9:36 am

triggywiggy

We are putting down 600 x 600 porcelain tiles through our living areas.

I have been quoted by a tiler to put them down after handover on top of screeding, $55 m2. However the SS has said he can get his tiler to do them prior to handover for $45 m2, but this would be straight on to the slab as the slad should not need screening according to SS.

Why would one tiler want to screed and another not. Do you need to screed a slabs living area?

Obviously having the tiles laid during lockup would be more adventitious to us so we could move in sooner and one less thing to sort ourselves after handover. But would no screed effect the quality and look of the job? These tiles are high gloss.

$55m2 including screeding seems cheap to me?

StructuralBIMGuy · Aug 04, 2014 10:12 am

mgilla

I've seen many tilers lay 6x6 perfectly, they have to put down then pull up every tile adding a bit of glue here or taking some from there, it takes a while but the end result is the same as if the floor was levelled.

You might get away with that on small tiles but not on large porcelain tiles.
The tile glue manufacturers recommend a uniform layer of glue assumming the floor is flat?
It is near impossible to squeeze glue out from the centre of a large tile not to mention they are very fragile.

mgilla

Sorry structuralBIM but cracking has nothing to do with whether the slab was levelled or not.

Technically, that is not entirely correct.... assumming it is not the same thickness it (Mcrack) has to do with Stiffness and attracting moments (EI,but I digress)