Any help from tile experts will be appreciated:
Planning for ceramic tile in the kitchen. Pulled up vinyl and lauan to find another layer of vinyl, then 5/8" ply, then 3/4" osb. OSB is too flexible between joists for my comfort.
Planning on 1/2" cement backer board. Will that be enough to handle the flex? Was it a mistake to pull the 5/8" ply?
Also, I have found Durrock to be tougher than Hardibacker because of the mesh. Do you think it's the better product, especially since I"m concerned about flex?
Thanks.
There are ALOT of layers to this floor. Maybe spongy area is a repair or moisture infiltration.:whistling
I would remove everything down to the 5/8" ply then figure out where problem areas are first. then lay backerboard, etc. Good luck.
Good guess on the moisture. 24 year old house and only got a vapor barrier 5 years ago. Even with that, the crawl is more moist than I'd like. Welcome to NC. And in my experience osb reacts worse to moisture than ply.
Never use OSB for flooring. Soon as it gets wet, it's over...:no:
Guess I gotta go back and repair half of the houses I have worked on in 25 years.
Cmon, this is merely your opinion. While my opinion is that plywood is definitely stronger and holds up better to water, I realize that price can also come into play. If price is no problem, then by all means use plywood. But for the rest of us, osb can and has been used a lot.
Darwin - then you have been using the wrong OSB product
revised opinion: I would not recommend OSB for flooring in wet locations. Rooms like kitchens and baths where the possibility exists for water infiltration. Any other dry locations using OSB for flooring is perfectly fine. (I thought it over..
)
JHM,
What is the floor joist length and depth? If it can't carry the load, your effort is futile. If you have access from below, you can shore up the joists with a beam.
olzo
The backer doesn't contribute
anything to strength.
Make sure the OSB is oriented
on the strength axis, then re-lay
5/8", also perpendicular to the joist.
If the subfloor is springy, run a row
of screws between the joist.
Any help from tile experts will be appreciated:
Planning for ceramic tile in the kitchen. Pulled up vinyl and lauan to find another layer of vinyl, then 5/8" ply, then 3/4" osb. OSB is too flexible between joists for my comfort.
Planning on 1/2" cement backer board. Will that be enough to handle the flex? Was it a mistake to pull the 5/8" ply?
Fir plywood TG with PL400, and lots of it. Screws at every 4 inches on the perimeter and 6 inches in the field. I find this process creates a beam out of the floor and relies less on the joists for support. If this does not take out significant deflection then I would go the Shlutter route. Ditra will decouple the tile from the subfloor.