# Forum Home Renovation Tiling  Screeding fall in laundry

## AdamR

Hi all, 
Long time lurker, first time poster. Doing a laundry reno at the moment in a late 1980s (probably built late 1986) house in Canberra.  
House is built on a concrete slab. As i have removed the floor tiles in the laundry, the screed below has come up in places, and is pretty crumbly in others, so I have removed the lot and am just back to the bare slab. Laundry has a waste in the centre of the floor. 
I am reasonably handy, but never done any tiling before. There is an aluminium angle in the doorway, and a metal strip that runs up behind the plasterboard sheet and down onto the slab - I presume to hold all the screed in. Laundry dimensions are 2000mm by about 1700mm.  
If I can indulge the collective wisdom of the internet: 
1. How hard will it be to rescreed the laundry to get the fall, before retiling? I am planning on 300mm x 300mm tiles. With a floor space that size, would I be best to divide the floor space into sections (4?), and rescreed them in turn? 
2. What is the metal strip that runs under the plasterboard sheet and on to the concrete slab? That has become damaged in some sections, and some of the plasterboard is going to get removed and resheeted anyway, so I might as well replace that. Looks a bit like flashing to me, but I don't really know. 
3. The screed was not reinforced in any way; I presume it won't need to be this time either? The screed will likely be slightly thinner this time, because my floor tiles are slightly thicker than the ones they are replacing, and I don't really want the floor any higher (there is about a 15mm step up from the hallway outside as it is). 
4. Is a screed mix around 1:3 cement and washed sand? From my searching of the forum here, that seems to be about right? 
4. The house was built pre-water proofing guidlines/standards. I will waterproof it this time; I assume the waterproofing runs up the plasterboard wall (how high? 20mm?), and then covers the entire laundry floor and down into the waste? 
5. The laundry is going to be fitted out with cupboards and bench, in a galley style, with an underbench front load washing mashine. Do I tile the entire laundry first, then install the launry cupboards, or do I install the cupboards and tile up to the kickboards? What about the section in the middle with the washing machine? 
I tried to get some tilers to quote on the rescreed, but they weren't interested unless they did the tiling, and I am pretty happy to give the tiling a go myself. But if the screeding is too difficult, I might just have to pay a tiler to do the lot. 
Thanks for any tips, advice or warnings. I did search here pretty thoroughly, but the vast majority of the advice here is for renos on houses with floorboards! Seems we slab renovators are a bit rarer. 
Adam R.

----------


## Oldsaltoz

> Hi all, 
> Long time lurker, first time poster. Doing a laundry reno at the moment in a late 1980s (probably built late 1986) house in Canberra. 
> I am reasonably handy, but never done any tiling before. There is an aluminium angle in the doorway,   This is called a water stop and prevents water getting out of the room when it travels under the tiles. It's important that it is fully sealed at both ends and underneath, the full length. 
> and a metal strip that runs up behind the plasterboard sheet and down onto the slab - I presume to hold all the screed in.  This sounds more like a dodgy water stop to replace proper waterproofing. 
> Laundry dimensions are 2000mm by about 1700mm.  
> If I can indulge the collective wisdom of the internet: 
> 1. How hard will it be to re screed the laundry to get the fall, before re tiling? I am planning on 300mm x 300mm tiles. With a floor space that size, would I be best to divide the floor space into sections (4?), and re screed them in turn?  Common practice is to divide into 4, determined by drain location. 
> 2. What is the metal strip that runs under the plasterboard sheet and on to the concrete slab? That has become damaged in some sections, and some of the plasterboard is going to get removed and re sheeted anyway, so I might as well replace that. Looks a bit like flashing to me, but I don't really know. See Note Above 
> 3. The screed was not reinforced in any way; I presume it won't need to be this time either? The screed will likely be slightly thinner this time, because my floor tiles are slightly thicker than the ones they are replacing, and I don't really want the floor any higher (there is about a 15mm step up from the hallway outside as it is).  Use a levelling compound rather than cement and sand mix, it can be put down a lot thinner without cracking or breaking. 
> ...

  Waterproof before levelling or after but make sure the membrane continues down into the waste. 
Hope this helps. 
Good luck.  :Smilie:

----------


## AdamR

Thanks very much for the help Oldsaltoz, very much appreciated. If I can aks another: 
You recommend using a levelling compound between the slab and the tiles. With this produce a level surface, or will I be able to slope it to the waste?

----------


## Oldsaltoz

> Thanks very much for the help Oldsaltoz, very much appreciated. If I can ask another: 
> You recommend using a levelling compound between the slab and the tiles. With this produce a level surface, or will I be able to slope it to the waste?

  A levelling compound will allow a much thinner coat than then a screed mix using cement, the old cement based screed starts to break when thin. 
Levelling compound comes in many types ranging from self levelling to profiling. 
Talk to the people in the tile shop and explain what you need to do. 
Good luck.  :Smilie:

----------


## AdamR

Ok, the screed removal continues, and I am starting to get a better picture of things. 
At the moment, my plasterboard comes down to the slab level, with a 10mm or so clearance off the slab. There is then what looks like a metal flashing that runs up and under the plaster sheet (presumably onto the stud wall), and then down onto the slab, in an 'L' shape. I presume this is so the screed didn't come into contact with the stud wall timber? 
Is this normal to do these days, or am I safe to just pull it all and back to the stud wall, resheet (leaving 10mm clearance), and then screed up to the wall (and then waterproof on top of the screed)?

----------


## Oldsaltoz

> Ok, the screed removal continues, and I am starting to get a better picture of things. 
> At the moment, my plasterboard comes down to the slab level, with a 10mm or so clearance off the slab. There is then what looks like a metal flashing that runs up and under the plaster sheet (presumably onto the stud wall), and then down onto the slab, in an 'L' shape. I presume this is so the screed didn't come into contact with the stud wall timber? 
> Is this normal to do these days, or am I safe to just pull it all and back to the stud wall, re sheet (leaving 10mm clearance), and then screed up to the wall (and then waterproof on top of the screed)?

  The flashing is an old method of waterproofing, problem is, it leaves the bottom of the sheet exposed to moisture and has no allowance for any movement, this is why it's not done these days.  The 'normal' practice for sheeting the walls is to drop an off cut of the sheet on the floor, place the sheet on it and secure it to the studs, the small gap allows some movement. 
Waterproofing can be done before or after the screed and providing the screed a good strong one it's better to waterproof after the screed is in place, but only if the full floor is being sealed. 
If you only need wall to floor interface seal, do this first then screed as this will better protect the wall sheets. 
Good luck.  :Smilie:

----------

