Floor tiling in Malvern, levelled first and tiled second

Living areas, hallways, kitchens, laundries and entries. The substrate is checked and corrected before a single sheet of adhesive is combed out.

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SUBSTRATE · LEVELLING

A floor is only as flat as what sits under it

Flatness is settled before a tile is unwrapped. We run a straight-edge across the room, mark the hollows and the high spots, then correct them with levelling compound or a screed — because a tile sits exactly as flat as the bed beneath it, and nothing done during laying will hide a slab that dips towards a doorway.

That matters more than it used to. Formats have grown and joints have narrowed, so a hollow a small tile would have bridged now reads as lippage across a long panel edge. The same preparation keeps a floor quiet underfoot and stops tiles sounding drummy a year later. If you are choosing between materials first, porcelain and ceramic behave differently per room.

SUBSTRATE

Two substrates, two different sets of problems

Most floors in Malvern and the surrounding streets are one of two things: a concrete slab, or timber and particleboard over joists. The preparation diverges completely.

Concrete and screed

Slabs shrink and move for a long while after pour, and older ones carry patches, paint, glue residue and levels that drift. We check the surface for bond and moisture, grind back anything adhesive will not hold to, prime, and fill the low points rather than raise the whole floor where the levels allow it.

Timber and particleboard

Timber floors deflect, and tile beds do not. Joists and sheeting are checked for spring and fixing, then overlaid with fibre-cement sheet fixed at the spacing the manufacturer sets, so the bed sits on something that will not flex. In kitchens and laundries this is also where waterproofing gets decided, before any levelling starts.

DEPTH REGISTER

The build-up, bottom to top

SLAB · SHEET

The floor you already have

Sounded for drumminess, straight-edged for level, checked for movement and moisture. Everything above this layer is chosen by what the check finds.

LEVELLING

Compound and screed

Hollows filled, high spots ground off, falls formed where a floor needs one. Flatness tolerance tightens as the tile gets longer — the reason large format work lives or dies on this layer.

PRIMER

The coat nobody sees

Primer controls suction and gives the compound and adhesive something to grip. Skipping it is one of the quieter causes of tiles letting go later — covered in preparation decides the finish.

ADHESIVE BED

Adhesive and set-out

Adhesive matched to both the substrate and the tile, combed for full coverage and back-buttered on bigger panels. The set-out is planned from the main sightline down the hall, not from whichever wall happens to be squarest, so cuts land where they are least seen.

JOINT

Grout, perimeters and movement

Grout colour chosen against the tile rather than the sample board, silicone at every perimeter and change of plane, and movement joints across long runs and doorways. Where these are left out, the result usually arrives later as cracked or drummy tiles.

Reference photograph: a cut being scored on a manual tile cutter. On a floor, the set-out starts from the main sightline, so the cut pieces are pushed to the edges and doorways where they are least seen.

ASKED BEFORE WE START

Four questions that change the quote

Can you tile over the existing floor tiles?

Sometimes. The old floor has to be sound, well bonded and reasonably flat. Anything drummy comes up first, and the surface is ground and primed so the new adhesive has something to key into. It saves demolition — and it raises the floor, which leads to the next question.

What about door clearances and floor height?

Sheeting, levelling, adhesive and tile all add build-up, so doors, thresholds, wardrobe tracks and the junction with carpet or boards are measured before we price the job. Doors can usually be trimmed, and a trim strip handles the change in level at the doorway.

Can you tile over underfloor heating?

Yes, over electric mats or hydronic loops, using a flexible adhesive and grout with the heating left off until everything has cured. Mention it early — it affects the bed, the grout and occasionally the set-out.

How long before we can walk on it?

Adhesive and grout both need curing time before load, and how long depends on the products, the tile and the weather. We set out which rooms to stay off and for how long on your job, and heavy furniture goes back last.

Tell us what is under the floor

Room sizes, the tile you are considering and whether it is slab or timber underneath is enough to start. Request a quote, or send the details through the enquiry form. Floor work runs through Malvern, Malvern East, Armadale, Toorak, Glen Iris, Prahran and Carnegie, residential and small commercial alike.

CONTINUES INTO

Large Format Tiling — the same floor, tighter tolerances.

Bathroom Tiling — floors with falls and a membrane below.

Tile Repairs — when an existing floor has gone drummy.

Outdoor Tiling — floors that also have to drain.

All tiling services