I am putting in a bathroom in a basement with a poured concrete floor and plan to do the floor and shower stall in tile. The house is two years old with no moisture problems and the builder roughed in the plumbing. Should I install the tile directly on the concrete floor or should I put something down first like plywood or other product like Schluter-system? The house is in Ottawa, Canada with very cold winters and hot humid summers but the house is heated & air-conditioned so there is not a big impact on the living space……other than the gas & hydro bills.
Thanks for any advice you can provide.
John
Replies
I am curious about the no-moisture problems, comment. Have you performed any test to this conclusion, or is it you just have not observed standing moisture, smelled mildew, etc.?
Also, while the basement floor might appear to be leveled, you may find that it isn't. I'd take a 3-4' level and lay it on the floor and see. The potential for uneven areas in a small space is quite large.
I checked for moisture by taping down a few 18" squares of plastic in the area I am working on and leaving them for a week or so. There was no condensation and no colour change on the concrete.
As for leveling - I do need to do something as it is not perfectly level and unfortunately where it is not level the floor runs away from the drain. So I need to level up and do something to slope to the drain.
Don't add any plywood. The best it will do is get wet and rot.
If you need to level the floor, or build it up, use a cementitious product. There are lots of floor levelers available, some claim to be self-levelling. The thing they all have in common is that they are dry powders that you mix with water or a latex additive.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt