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typical wet floor construction (timber floor)

The image to the left shows the typical construction of a tiled wet floor area on a suspended timber (joists) floor.

It comprises a shaped shower sub-floor or tray which has a drainage hole ready to accept a waste trap. Overlaying this is a waterproof membrane which is also run up the floor/wall joint and under the waste trap to ensure a watertight seal should the final floorcovering fail. This often happens when a tiled covering cracks or moves due to insufficient support or the use of a non-flexible adhesive and grout. Water then penetrates under the tiles and into the wooden subfloor causing it to swell which in turn allows more water in and thus compounding the problem .

An alternative to using plywood and waterproof membrane is to use a waterproof tilebacker board such as Wedi Tilebacker™. This has a blue Styrofoam™ core. Both sides are coated with a polymer-modified cement coating and reinforced with glass fibre. The advantages of this type of board is that it insulates the floor both acoustically and thermally. This tilebacker board comes in 2400mm x 600mm boards and is very easy to cut and lay. The joints must again be sealed with wedi waterproof tape to prevent water ingress below the tilebacker board.

Underfloor heating can be layed on top if required then the tiles can be laid using a flexible floor tile adhesive and flexible floor grout.

 

typical wet floor construction (solid floor)

The image to the left shows the typical construction of a wet floor on a concrete floor. Again a shaped shower tray can be used or the floor could have a slope cast into the screed. A shallow or pumped trap is usually used to avoid having to excavate too deep. Any perforations of the existing damp-proof membrane should be attended to. The whole floor area is then waterproofed with a membrane or tilebacker before tiling. Again, Wedi tilebacker board is very suitable as it provides thermal insulation against the concrete floor. We would also recommend the installation of underfloor heating, such as that supplied by Warmup