# Forum Home Renovation Tiling  Tiling thickness

## mike_perth

Hi All 
After reading back through hundred of posts Im having trouble finding an answer to my question 
I have 19mm jarah floorboards on pine joists and want my bathroom floor to match in height so need to know how thick tiles + cement sheet + glue will be so I can trim the floor joists to give me the same height - I have figured 15mm cement sheet + 4mm tile glue + tile thickness @ around 5mm gives me 24mm so I will need to take 6mm off my joists? 
Does this sound correct? 
Sorry for the mathmatical post! 
Mike

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## stevoh741

Have you thought about fall. You will need to give yourself a lot more room than that if you figure a screed into the equation. I'm sure to be corrected but I think screed needs to be 20mm at its thinnest/lowest so your probably looking at 40mm at top of the fall. I'm sure a tiler can add to this post.....

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## ringtail

Stretching the memory a bit but I think a 40 mm allowance for bedding is the norm. Obviously the high point is at the entrance to the bathroom. Factor in the waterproofing and ally angle water stop too.

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## rgcam

It depends what you want to do. If you want a wetroom, then yes you need a grade to a drain, but most domestic bathrooms are not wetrooms so the floor is level. 
  The door can eat any height difference if you use its width to run a strip under the door to break the transision between tiles and external floor. It just takes time to craft a sill (for want of a better word). and planning to have the gap as wide as you need. Not wide enough and  you have a section of too thin wood, too wide and you have a gap.
  It takes a table saw and a bit of mucking around to cut grooves out for tiles or boards etc, but worth the effort.
   I laid a floating floor and this is my transision. No one notices the wood across the door because it looks correct. Only if it seems odd will it stand out.

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## mike_perth

Good point re a fall across the floor to a floor waste I hadnt considered that! 
But again a good point on not needing a fall and having a level floor - Id prefer to stay level as that means less timber coming off the floor joists which is a good thing as it will stay stronger. 
Anyway maybe time to measure some tiles and figure a depth 
Mike

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## stevoh741

I personally would never do a bathroom without fall to a FW. At least doing it yourself you will have no-one else to blame if the bath or sink overflow, or the shower gets blocked with hair and overflows. Lucky for you you have timber floorboards for the water to run out to - the timber will love all that water (use of sarcasm here)!

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## heavytrevy

If your bathroom is second level and above a habitated area you must have a general waste and have fall to it .

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## mike_perth

Yeah agree re the floor waste - looks like I will need to take a fair amount off the joists so we can screed to a drain. 
Would it be possible to put the fall in the joists and screw off the cement sheet so the tiles can be laid "flat" against the sheeting?

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## rgcam

If you cut the joists in any way you will weaken your floor. Now most times specificatons are near the edge of what is needed, so chances are you start cutting hunks out you will create a trampoline floor. So please consider. If this is a floor on stumps, keep it flat. Who does manipulative exercises in the shower and sprays water to the four corners. Sure if the drain blocks it may flood, but what idiot gets out the shower when water is flowing over ankles. 
  There is always, "what if" and there is always realism. Me I prefer realism.

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## stevoh741

> If you cut the joists in any way you will weaken your floor. Now most times specificatons are near the edge of what is needed, so chances are you start cutting hunks out you will create a trampoline floor. So please consider. If this is a floor on stumps, keep it flat. Who does manipulative exercises in the shower and sprays water to the four corners. Sure if the drain blocks it may flood, but what idiot gets out the shower when water is flowing over ankles. 
> There is always, "what if" and there is always realism. Me I prefer realism.

  and others prefer to follow the building code.....

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## rgcam

> and others prefer to follow the building code.....

    It surprises me that that should be posted. I have no idea as to how thick joists should be, but the question was how much can be shaved. Now to post this suggests I have erred. I would ask the poster if he knows code then tell us. If he thinks my answer incorrect, explain why. To do as he does is the typical cop out. Its the gooly frighty stuff designed to frighten the home renovator.   *ADMIN COMMENT*: *Go  to The Debate area to discuss codes and adherence to the same. This  just clutters up the OP's query with crap and unsupported opinions*.

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## mike_perth

Joists are thicker than required though only due to a stuff up by the framing company (they quoted for a pozi strut floor system but negelcted to notice the saltwater pool next to the floor - steel and wood floor next to salt water not a wise mix thus at this point bearers were already in so they had to use very very thick joists to replicate the same height as the pozi strut joists. 
So long story short shaving joists not a huge deal more of an issue to me as Ill be the one cutting them back!

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## stevoh741

> It surprises me that that should be posted. I have no idea as to how thick joists should be, but the question was how much can be shaved. Now to post this suggests I have erred. I would ask the poster if he knows code then tell us. If he thinks my answer incorrect, explain why. To do as he does is the typical cop out. Its the gooly frighty stuff designed to frighten the home renovator.

  The building code isn't there to frighten people but to ensure people adhere to it when building to create a safe environment and protect people from "cowboy" builders or dodgy DIYers. As for yourself or anyone else I personnally don't care if you take no notice of the code and do all your own building plumbbing and electrical work in your own home whilst totally disregarding any rules/regulations. The problem I have with people that do this is when they sell and an innocent victim gets injured or worse. Take the spate of deck collapses over recent years as an example. If I bought a house and was injured as a result of dodgy building work I would take up every avenue of litigation available to me against the person that did the work. If you want to see what it is like living where their are no codes etc have a look at the likes of India where people get fried and injured all the time due to dodgy unregulated building work. The building code is in place to ensure everyone's safety and I for one am glad we do have such a good code in this country.

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## rgcam

> The building code isn't there to frighten people but to ensure people adhere to it when building to create a safe environment and protect people from "cowboy" builders or dodgy DIYers. As for yourself or anyone else I personnally don't care if you take no notice of the code and do all your own building plumbbing and electrical work in your own home whilst totally disregarding any rules/regulations. The problem I have with people that do this is when they sell and an innocent victim gets injured or worse. Take the spate of deck collapses over recent years as an example. If I bought a house and was injured as a result of dodgy building work I would take up every avenue of litigation available to me against the person that did the work. If you want to see what it is like living where their are no codes etc have a look at the likes of India where people get fried and injured all the time due to dodgy unregulated building work. The building code is in place to ensure everyone's safety and I for one am glad we do have such a good code in this country.

  Again you assume something that is not true. Now if this was my bathroom, I would find out what the codes were. I did my bathroom and found out about waterproofing the walls etc and used that as my minimum guide so those that come after me will find everything I do is well beyond code.
 If you read my posts you will see my first advice was do it once,do it well. and cutting structure may not be good.
  So people come to this site for advice as to how it should be done, if you dont wish to impart that information, that is your choice. But a site where a question is met by negatives and ghoul stories, what is the point?   *ADMIN COMMENT*: *Go to The Debate area to discuss codes and adherence to the same. This just clutters up the OP's query with crap and unsupported opinions*.

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