In my opinion they are both wrong. I would leave the sub-floor, put down a thin coat of cement, lay down 1/2 inch cement board, (3 ft x 5 ft) Put a few screws along the edges and nail it with roofing nails. RJ ----- Original Message ----- From: Victor Gouveia To: Blind Handyman Listserv Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 6:09 AM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] To Scratch or Not To Scratch
Hi Folks, Had a contractor here yesterday, two in fact, and each gives me their own interpretation of something I need done to my kitchen floor, so I'm wondering what you all think. I'm going to be replacing the ceramic tiles on my kitchen floor upstairs. I'm going to be laying thicker tiles down than I already have up there, as my current floor tiles are all cracked and coming up. Suffice it to say, this is a long time in coming. In any case, like I said above, I get a different story, as to how to go about installing the floor from each of the contractors. One says that I should rip everything up, and just lay down three quarter or five eighths inch plywood without any scratch coat, and I should be fine. The other says that I really don't need to rip up the sub-floor, as it feels sturdy to him, and that all you need to do is apply a good scratch coat to it, and install the new tiles. As some of you may or may not know, I'm a pretty hefty guy, weighing in at around 375, so this floor will have to put up with a heavy weight. Add to that the fact that this is the main kitchen for the house, so we're talking a great deal of traffic and with a five year-old running around, we're bound to get some spills and food stuff on the floor. Hell, I'm not that clean an eater either. In any case, which contractor is right. Can you make an argument for going with the scratch coat alone, or ripping up the sub-floor altogether and installing the plywood without the scratch coat? I should also note that the scratch coat would also entail laying down the wire mesh, so I guess that would make the scratch coat even stronger, but I'm still hesitant to do this, as I have had two contractors tell me that I should rip up the sub-floor in the kitchen and start from the bottom up. Any ideas? Victor Gouveia [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
