Browse Forums Bathrooms and Laundry 1 Jun 11, 2013 12:41 pm Hi all, Bathroom reno is a bit of a while away yet, but I've been looking at it trying to get a plan of attack sorted. Biggest question I have is regarding the concrete slab over the timber floor (second story), any particular reason why they used to do this? My initial thought was for added structural strength, but the bathtub itself is cut into the slab, and sits lower, down onto the floorboards themselves, so that threw me. I'm assuming most people remove the concrete? If so, what's the best method of removal? I don't want to hack into it with a sledge as I'd be worried that I'd damage the timber underneath. Secondly, do most people then put down some sheeting to tile over? I'm skeptical about tiling directly onto wooden floorboards regardless of what goes under them. I'm looking a baseless shower, so I can run my tiles all the way into the shower, I'm just not sure how much room the tiler will have for drainage etc. All thoughts welcomed, thanks. Re: Bathroom Reno - Concrete over Wood 2Jun 12, 2013 8:17 pm Not following how a slab is on top of a timber floor on a second story? I've never seen it so I can't comment.. You cannot lay tiles on timber flooring. You would either get it waterproofed then tiled or lay 6mm cement sheet underlay on the flooring before tiling. Re: Bathroom Reno - Concrete over Wood 3Jun 12, 2013 9:37 pm It seems to be a common thing for older houses around here. I'll grab a picture in the morning. Essentially its timber floor, with about a 1.5-2" thick concrete slab, and that's been tiled. I was thinking about leaving the timber and laying underlay over the top and having a very small step up. Just not sure on the best method of breaking up the concrete. Precutting it 95% of the thickness would let me remove it in chunks, as opposed to just hacking away with a crow bar. Re: Bathroom Reno - Concrete over Wood 4Jun 13, 2013 9:49 am I'm glad you asked, since I posted pretty much the same question but got no answers! Your concrete base was laid down as a firm base for the tile. If they used anything less than 2" it could easily crack. This was always done before concrete boards were invented, although even now some tilers prefer the mud base. Best way to break it up? I think once you get a small area up you will be able to prey it up quite easily with a crow bar, it will just break up into smaller slabs that you can carry out. There is no need to jamb the crow bar down and damage the floor. Sometimes there is a wire mesh nailed to the floor and bonded to the concrete, which makes it more difficult, but still doable with patience. I'll let you know for sure in a couple of days when I start mine! In my bathroom the problem is, I want the wood floors to be my finished flooring. I'm still kicking around how to transition from the shower area back to the wood floor, but will probably just build up a kerb and mud base in the shower. In your case, you will need to have the floor slope to the two drains, one in the shower one in the main floor. This is usually done by using that same concrete that you are about to pull up. I'm not from Australia, and Ive yet to find out how they do that here other than using a mud base. If you just lay down a 6mm underlayment sheet as the other fella says, then how would it drain? But I'm about to talk to a pro today, so maybe they will have some insight I can pass on. Re: Bathroom Reno - Concrete over Wood 5Jun 13, 2013 5:02 pm Thanks for that, aren't you worried the wooden floor will be slippery? I hadn't really though of a drain outside of the shower recess itself. Its a fairly small area so hopefully I can avoid it. I spent a few hours on sketch up today. I'll get a link for that tonight as well Re: Bathroom Reno - Concrete over Wood 6Jun 13, 2013 9:53 pm I don't think a wooden floor will be anymore slippery than a tile, much less so in fact. The drain outside the shower seems to be popular in Australia. I guess it gives you a level of safety if the toilet flooded. I don't know if its code here, but there seems to be a lot of bathrooms that have them. How are you going with Sketch up? having been looking at what it can do lately myself. Looks like a fun program but a big learning curve! Re: Bathroom Reno - Concrete over Wood 7Jun 14, 2013 9:01 am I know you can get different tiles for wet areas that aren't as slippery when wet, at the last house it was tiled and then polished wooden floors outside of the bathroom area, and it was definitely slippery. I'm sure there would be a different treatment or arrangement for the timber though, either way I'm very interested in hearing about how it works out. Google sketchup is really quite good once you get the hang of it. I've used it before, this took me 30 minutes or so yesterday. The only thing it really fails in, is scaling. I'd like to be able to scale via two snappable points. No toilet in my bathroom, it's in a smaller room next door. You've got me thinking about drainage though, I'll definitely have to consider that. Here's the design I worked on yesterday. Some things are not 100%, the vanity in that picture is 1700 long, when we were really looking at 1200-1400. And the shower is approx 1000x 1000, but thinking about it I'll probably end up making it 900x1200, and centering the bath in an enclosure, if that makes sense. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Hello It is good to have a planned bathroom reno to suit your budget and design, living for 10 years I think you need a bathtub 4 10339 Much a do about nothing. You can see the fall heading to the actual drains. Stormwater ingress will be minimal and it's far better to have the top sitting flush rather… 12 6168 As most others have posted above the install isn't compliant. The pipe is meant to be covered in loose soil or sand, the pipe has holes in it that leaks out a termicide… 10 5699 |