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Tiling first then cabinets? Trying to understand the sequence

1071 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  oh'mike
First this is the best site I've ever come across and will never consider big box store advice again! :no: But I'm trying to tie all the pieces together from everything I've read here and have some questions before I tile my kitchen...

1) Many of you mention tiling before putting down cabinets. But I will be installing an island with a gas cooktop and was planning to lay 2x4s flat on top of the hardiboard as a way to anchor the island cabinet to the floor. So my thought was to hardi the entire kitchen, install the cabinets, then tile. But what if I went with Ditra (which most of you like)... I would be nailing into the Ditra when I lay the 2x4s. Won't that defeat the purpose of the floating floor idea? (BTW, kitchen area is 340 sq ft and the island will take up 10 sq ft)

2) I also read here that you should never ever put SLC down first. So, you guys are saying I should put down the Ditra or Hardi first and then the leveling compound? I have some spots in the kitchen (near the walls) where the 3/4" plywood slopes down a good 1/2".

3) this is actually a follow up to an older post I had... JazMan and others told me my deflection was close and that I needed to shore up the joists. I was going to add a wall down in my basement to shorten the span, but after some thought, I think I'll just reinforce the joists as another solution which many of you suggested. But I have a dumb question to ask about that process, so I apologize ahead of time...
a) If I use angle iron or a 2x4 as a sister, do I place them along the top or bottom of my 2x10 joist?
b) If I just nailed a 2x4 flat to the bottom of the joist do I go the full span of the joist? Also, do I need to consider running any 2x4s perpendicular to the floor joists? Right now the joists have these criss-crossed pieces of wood between each joist, which I guess is to prevent the joist from flexing one way or another.

Again, I thank you all for your help and expertise.

Sorry for all these questions... I actually went to two tile stores yesterday and asked these questions to their installers and got different answers. And when I asked about dealing with the deflection (which way to lay the 2x4s as suggested by JazMan, they just pointed me to the Ditra). very frustrating.
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Yikes----slow down a bit----First your island---the blocks to secure the island can be glued to the top of the tile with PL premium,if the island does not have an overhanging counter top (out of balance)

If a more secure block is needed screw the block down before tiling --then tile up to the block.

Sistering in a floor joist usually means adding another joist of the same size (2x10?) a 2x4 is a bit to light to add much strength---

----That's all I've got for now--ask away---Mike---
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