DIY tile in bathroom? Plumbing Q's.

Crimson2v

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We have laminate floors in our bathrooms and I am wanting to get some info on possibly doing tile. Being that it is laminate would I have to put a different underlayment like a concrete backer board or thicker plywood on top of the original flooring? Also the other question is about the toilet flange, if you add height to the original floors are there ways to properly raise the flange to prevent leaks?
 

ashleyroachclip

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I can answer both questions for you .
1 take up all of the laminate flooring .
Install hardie board , tile backer .
Screw it to the patern it calls for , all of the X's
They make a flange extention kit judt for this ,simple to install , and less than 40 bucks .
 

utlong31

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Is your sub floor wood or pier and beam not concrete? If so then the above is correct. Remove flooring and install hardy backer then tile on top of that. If it’s concrete just remove flooring and underpayment. As far as the toilet flange goes it really depends on how high you raise the floor. I have gotten away with the thicker double wax rings before and didn’t have to raise the flange but either way it’s not to difficult.


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hotcobra03

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I’m on wood.

I had put tile down without backer.

Toilet.

They make a thicker wax ring.

I have a mobile home.

Kitchen is 250sq. It had no issues being pulled here with tile cracking.

Home is now 20yrs old.
 

utlong31

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I’m on wood.

I had put tile down without backer.

Toilet.

They make a thicker wax ring.

I have a mobile home.

Kitchen is 250sq. It had no issues being pulled here with tile cracking.

Home is now 20yrs old.

It’s a crap shoot. No more than what it will cost to put down hardy backer in a bathroom I would go ahead and do it. The new thin sets are so much better and flexible than the older ones but I still wouldn’t risk it.


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hotcobra03

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It’s a crap shoot. No more than what it will cost to put down hardy backer in a bathroom I would go ahead and do it. The new thin sets are so much better and flexible than the older ones but I still wouldn’t risk it.


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Way I see it.

Spend that money on grout sealer.

Problem is water will go thru grout if it’s not sealed.

Pour a glass of water on a floor not sealed and you can watch it go Thur

Seal it and water will stay ontop.

I’ve installed wood floor in both kitchen and bath in million dollar homes
which will eventually be an issue at sometime.
 

utlong31

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You can never truly seal grout. It is porous. You can put down tile on wood if you want to but I wouldn’t. Know way I would let a contractor do it in my house either. I would look for a different contractor. Lots of them think they know what they are doing but I’ve also replaced many shower pans that so called contractors said they knew what they were doing and the shower didn’t last more than a year.


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hotcobra03

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You can never truly seal grout. It is porous. You can put down tile on wood if you want to but I wouldn’t. Know way I would let a contractor do it in my house either. I would look for a different contractor. Lots of them think they know what they are doing but I’ve also replaced many shower pans that so called contractors said they knew what they were doing and the shower didn’t last more than a year.


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Guess it’s more like the oil debate.
Conventional vs syentheic

Agree on shower pans

I’ve redone many that the plastic was just laying on floor without a slope.
 

Crimson2v

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My upstairs bathrooms are wood and first floor on concrete. I was doing some reading on underlayment and found this stuff called Ditra. It supposedly is a decoupler membrane and it keeps the tile from cracking. Our walls in the one bathroom have tile already in there I have never sealed the grout, is that a problem I need to address too?
 

utlong31

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My upstairs bathrooms are wood and first floor on concrete. I was doing some reading on underlayment and found this stuff called Ditra. It supposedly is a decoupler membrane and it keeps the tile from cracking. Our walls in the one bathroom have tile already in there I have never sealed the grout, is that a problem I need to address too?

Sealing grout is more for stain proofing than water proofing.


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BigFatMatt

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I'm in the middle of a bathroom remodel myself, and I've been researching the same thing.

There's nothing wrong with using CBU (hardi board) this is what I did for my shower walls, then waterproofing membrane, and large format marble over that. It took some time, but it is very strong.

I'm probably going to use Ditra for the bathroom floor. My subfloor has joists spaced less than 16" apart and two layers of plywood which should be plenty of support for the Ditra. If the subfloor wasn't as solid I might go with the CBU because I imagine it would stiffen things up a lot.

I like that the Ditra is easy to install, waterproof, and allows for some flex between the tile and the subfloor.

And yes the grout is never truly waterproof which is why it is so important in shower areas to have a waterproofing membrane. We went with an epoxy grout which doesn't require sealing and is very stain resistant. It was difficult to clean off the tile though, and there are still some areas you can see a slight haze that I need to clean some more. The cleanup was the only thing I didn't like about the epoxy grout... other than that it was great.
 

08mojo

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We have laminate floors in our bathrooms and I am wanting to get some info on possibly doing tile. Being that it is laminate would I have to put a different underlayment like a concrete backer board or thicker plywood on top of the original flooring? Also the other question is about the toilet flange, if you add height to the original floors are there ways to properly raise the flange to prevent leaks?

Depending on the thickness of your subfloor, you may or may not need to add thicker plywood. I would always add the concrete backer over the subfloor. The correct way to raise the toilet flange is to cut out the old, and extend the pipe so the new flange sits on top of the new flooring. The flange should also be installed last--meaning the flange should sit on the finished floor, not the subfloor.
 

Crimson2v

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So you would get the floor finished and then have a plumber extend the discharge pipe and flange for a proper job? I would hate to do all that work and have a leak due to an issue with the toilet not sealing.
 

7998

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So you would get the floor finished and then have a plumber extend the discharge pipe and flange for a proper job? I would hate to do all that work and have a leak due to an issue with the toilet not sealing.

You're taking the laminate out (-3/8") and putting Hardie board and tile (+1/4" HB) (+1/2"-5/8") So you are only taking about 3/8"-1/2" higher. You should be fine with leaving the flange in it's place unless the toilet flange is already lower than the floor.

If you aren't sure get one of these.
43404-OATEY - Oatey 43404-OATEY - 1/4"– 3/8" Toilet Flange Extension Kit
 

Oiljunkie

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Journey plumber here, use a flange extension if possible. But if you know what your doing a jumbo wax ring will work. Just make sure your flange bolts are long enough. Also don’t caulk the back on the toilet base. You Wana know if there is seepage. Also get the rubber wedges To shim the toilet so it sits nicely And doesn’t rock
 

08mojo

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So you would get the floor finished and then have a plumber extend the discharge pipe and flange for a proper job? I would hate to do all that work and have a leak due to an issue with the toilet not sealing.

When I was remodeling our bathroom, I cut off the old flange and extended the pipe way above the finished floor. Then I finished the floor and cut the pipe to install the flange at the finished floor height. The toilet drain pipe is the back right corner. I did the same for the shower drain which is seen on the left.

41955556084_7b1ea66eb1_k.jpg
 

Junior00

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Use Schluter’s line as mentioned, and a good epoxy grout. CBU is fine but if you’ve got a good subfloor I would skip that step and use the Schluter for sure.
 

Blk91stang

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For the toilet, I'd give these a try. Easy to install and inexpensive! I think I used silicone between them to seal to each other although it says you can use PVC glue which is probably a better idea.
 

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