gyp crete floor

Wayco Wayne_2

where the HO wants to take out a ceramic tile floor and put a radiant floor in with new ceramic on top. I've never done gypcrete before. I'm going back next week to look at it closer and do a heat load calc. I'm going to have to knock out a tile to see what depth we have to work with. I'm expected 1/2 in tile with maybe a 1/2 in. concrete board underneath. How deep do I need to make it work. if I go 3/8 pex and gyp crete on top? Basement below is finished ceilings so joist plates not a possibility. WW

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Bud_14

Why

You can actually cut out the plywood and put in sleepers to lower the floor another 3/4 inch. They used to do this all the time with tiles bathrooms, foyers and hearth areas..

Just a thought. I bit more work but it's a possibility.

Bud

hr

Consider

just a mud set for the tile application. Gyp is not a great tile substrate, in my opinion. Although there are methods to make it more tile friendly some tilesetters will shy away from tile on gyp.

Dan Peel has a good method of 3/8" tube with a dry pack mud job for a direct tile thinset. Think he is in the 3/4- 1" range. Most bathroom floors can get a threshold to accomodate that much floor height increase with being a "tripper."

There are some new polymer concrete mixes that pour down to 1/4" and provide a good hard tile surface. JLC had an article about them a few issues back. They can be blended in fix gallon buckets for small jobs.

Hand mixing gyp can be a tricky proposition if you have never done it! Goes off real fast.

Hard to get the whole gyp rig set up for just a bathroom pour. Expensive too?

hot rod

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Wayco Wayne_2

I wish I knew more

about tile installation. I've seen one tile contractor use morter to place slabs of slate over some tubing and it works fine. If we take up the floor sown to the sub floor and staple tubing down and then put mud down over the tubing it sounds like the same thing. It's actually a big job involving 5 rooms so does this make it labor intensive for the tile guys. I pictured the gyp-crete being relaticvely easy since it is so soupy it will pretty much level itself, at least thats what I think. I've not done a job like this yet and have no experience to draw from. Thanks for the input. WW

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