Laying ceramic floor tiles

[Trev]

Where's the best/cheapest place to buy the materials needed to lay ceramic floor tiles on a wooden floor (i have the tiles and electric tile cutter already)?

 

I've fitted tiles in a small bathroom and utility room before and just went to B&Q, however, this time i'm working on our kitchen which is much bigger. The price of ply seems to have shot up since i last bought any, at least at the big diy stores anyhow.

 

Our kitchen floor boards are petty sound, would you just use plywood sheets or shoudl i go for cerment boards. What size/thickness would you use?

 

Is it worth spending more on flexi adhesive and grout or is the non-brand stuff just as good?

[handypandy]

If the floor is in good condition, 6mm ply is usually adequate. It must be screwed in both directions every 6 inches.make sure the heads are countersunk or they will crack the tiles. Use a flexible powder adhesive (Al-Murad or Nick Firths probably best suppliers). Don't forget to use flexible grout too.

 

If the floor is at all suspect, I would take it up and fit P5 flooring boards. This is not as drastic as it sounds, the boards go down very quickly and give a good surface on which to tile. Cement boards are good too but not particularly economical.