Tiling

Tiling over a cracked substrate in a new build kitchen and wooden board for bathroom upstairs

Anonymous user 03/03/2024 - 3.39 PM

Hi all, I bought a new property, a semi-detached with 3 bedrooms. I didn’t take the developers flooring package for cost and limited choice reasons. I want to tile the kitchen floor which is basically a block & beam structure with a screed on top. Like many new builds, my floor has a long crack in the middle parallel to the patio door. I’ve been told by some people that the cracks indicate that the movement has already occurred, so if I tile directly on top of screed there shouldn’t be any issue. Some have said it is better to lay an uncoupling mat first then tile it on top of it? I would like to hear your thoughts if you have some tiling experience. Also what uncoupling mat do you recommend. I also want to tile the bathroom and en suite upstairs. The floor upstairs is HDF. Some tilers recommended me to lay a plywood and tile it over it, but some said I would need a tile backer board (Hardiebacker board), then a uncoupling mat on top (for water proofing) then tile it over. I would like to hear your thoughts on this too. Also, I wonder doing flooring ourselves would affect the warranty in anyway. The builder didn't mention anything about this. Thanks.