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geraldS · 02-25-2009, 07:40 PM

My entranceway landing is 6ft by 8 ft 5/8" tongue and groove. Joists are 8" 16 on centre. I plan on laying a hardwood 1 foot wide border around a pad of slate tile.
My real problem is the landings elevation are all over the place. I know I cannot make it "level" because the heighest point would make the first stair height way out of wake making a falling hazard.

I plan on using a leveling compound to make this landing all on the same plane. Then I plan on putting 1/2" plywood over top of the leveling compoound and screwing it down. Now I will use hardiboard for the tiles, lay them then put in whatever is necessary to get the hardwood to the right level......

My question is, Will this work? I heard that you can not drive nails through floor leveling compound as it will crumble eventually, but I have half inch plywood over top of the compound so I am hoping that that plywood would hold everything together..

sportsmansteve · 02-28-2009, 08:36 PM

You should try glueing it down, and only put a few screws in it to let the glue set up.

Bob Mariani · 03-01-2009, 08:30 AM

You floor will still have too much flex to install slate. You need at least 1 1/4" plywood subfloor.

geraldS · 03-01-2009, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Mariani

You floor will still have too much flex to install slate. You need at least 1 1/4" plywood subfloor.

Thanks for your response but I couldnt wait. I cut shims and nailed them to the floor ontop of the 5/8 inch plywood subfloor running only along the joists to make up for there irregularities. Then I poured floor leveling compound between these shims leveling everything out. Before the compound dried totaly I dropped 5/8 plywood over everything grain running the opposite direction of the original, and making sure the joints fell a three quaters of the way between studs so as not to sit on the studs themselves. Then I screwed the "underlay plywood" to the original subfloor only where the joists and shims were having screws only long enough to peirce the subloor and not the joists. I layed hardwood planks across this temporarily so nobody would walk between the joists causing the compound to deform and creating a void.....
This is all information I got from various forums.. Everybody has "the right way" to level out a floor and I simply combined them all.. which made for one long day.

Bob Mariani · 03-01-2009, 09:20 AM

you now have 1 1/4" 2 X 5/8" so you will be fine. Use Ditra now to keep the floor movement isolated from the tile. Slate will crack easily if not properly applied.