As anyone knows, sheetrock walls tend to warp as time goes by. My house is 20 years old, and there are alot of warped walls. Today, I am looking into putting tile floors in on the downstairs bathroom. And I need to know how much the walls are warped so I can get an idea of how I need to cut the tiles.
So, can anyone out there tell me how to measure the curvature in a warped sheetrock wall?
This is what baseboard is for.
NEVER put tile (esp. stone, ceramic) right up to a wall - thermal expansion will make a mess.
Bring the tile to within 1/8" of the wall, and use a baseboard to cover the gap.
The tiles going up to the door jam/trim are a special case, and need to be fitted - use a “copycat” (a bunch of wires side-by-side in a skinny frame - push the wires up against the trim, and the device will assume the shape of the trim) or the paper-on-the-floor, draw a line using a compass - more difficult to re-create the proper size, but at least you get the shape.
What kind of tile?
(and properly installed gypsum board does NOT warp - methinks you have a water/moisture problem - fix it, then worry about floor covering)
First, I agree with what “Extraneous” said. There is no good reason for sheetrock walls to warp. Also he’s spot-on with the tile advice.
Answering your OP: you can use a straight line on the floor to measure curvature at the floor, which is what you are concerned with here. A chalk line snapped on the floor with each end the same distance from the wall (a few inches) will do. If the wall is straight, all the wall in the middle will be the same distance from the line.
Extending what “Extraneous” said: there may be no moisture involved. It’s not that the drywall warped, it’s that the walls warped and the drywall flexed to follow. The walls may have warped for any of a number of reasons. Perhaps you have a foundation problem, which can result from moisture or other reasons. Maybe the foundation shifted shortly after the house was built (on fill?) and has now stabilized. Maybe the wood was not properly dry and warped. Maybe the structure was not constructed quite right and it settled until stress reached equilibrium. It could be termites – and this would be really bad if they are causing shifting structure.
If the walls is still moving (you probably would see new or changing cracks) it’s time to worry.
Generally good advice so far, especially concerning the walls – drywall doesn’t really warp if it is properly fastened, so any deformation can be pretty well attributed to whatever the drywall is fastened to. Assuming that you’ve simply accepted the fact that the walls are not straight (as the question seemed to assume), you don’t really need to worry much about the walls in order to install tile on the floor. I would only add that a tile field is generally laid out from the center of a room, so you need to snap two lines, at diagonals from the corners, to find the center, then snap one line in each direction from that centerpoint. Easier said than done if the walls are out of square by a bunch, but as said, tile is not a ‘tight fit’ proposition, so as long as your lines are at right angles to each other and you work the tiles from the center out to the walls you can cover the variations with the baseboards at the walls and it will look like a pro did the job.
Gairloch.
I’ve done a few bathroom floors in old houses. I’m not a pro, mind you, but then neither are you. One thing that still mystefies me is how “not-square” rooms are, especially in older homes. This can make putting in a grid floor especially irritating when the wall wanders away from the grid. Sounds like you can expect a similar problem once you get the wall thing figured out: do you have gypsum/chalk-like drywall or is it more like compressed paper? Gypsum should not deform on you as has been noted, but I grew up in a house with a paper-like drywall that drew humidity out of the air like a sponge and would do all kinds of dances. If there is damage or if this is the product you have, rip it out and replace it with gypsum–the water-resistant blue stuff, and do the whole room in it (bugger code, bathrooms can be considered “submerged” at all times what with the humidity inherent in the room and all). Yeah it costs twice as much as regular sheet rock, but what is THAT guys? $2.00 for a 4x8 sheet?
Anyways, if your corners aren’t square (and I got $20 says they aren’t) your walls won’t be parallel. If your walls aren’t parallel, your grid is either gonna be crushed or forced to spread. Simple fix that also pleases the eye: take a half tile and fix it 1/8 inch away from the wall (or more likely, tub) directly opposite the doorway. Use spacers! Lay a line of tiles from there to the doorway. Work toward the walls from that center line. Yes, you will have to cut damn near every tile that meets a wall, but that part is actually the most fun anyway. And the 1/8 inch margin at the wall is gospel. Before you slap on your baseboard you might run a bead of latex caulk around the perimeter between the floor & (water-resistant) drywall. This will keep tub splashes (got kids?) from getting to the floor boards and/or under your tile.
I think what Matchka refers to is known to me as “beaverboard” (1950’s name, get your minds out of the gutter) - it is/was an extremely low-density particle board - it should never be used for walls (I ripped out some that had been used a a ceiling in a basement).
Anyway, afer you get the mystery of the warped walls figured out and fixed - never put any kind of tile on a softwood floor - use high-density subfloor, or, better, concrete backer board.
If you are looking at putting tile directly on poured concrete, you will REALLY want to seal the concrete first.
I have no idea what works, and again, what kind of tile you are using will determine the prep. It’s the prep that will make or break your install, so do it right.
:smack: I should have known to use a chalk line. Thanks guys.
One observation I’ve made in 15 years of tile work: Ensure that the pattern fits the room. By this I mean not only a sense of proportion, but also that the pattern is forgiving of the flaws extant in the floor area.
After driving cross country to do the kitchen floor in my brothers home, I saw how woefully out of square the room was. His wife had picked out large pavers (13" sq) and a linear lay would make things look bad. My suggestion was to turn the tiles 30° and set them in a sawtooth fashion, thereby hiding all of the irregularities of the room. It required a lot of extra cutting, but I’d brought my wet saw just in case. The result was pleasing to everyone.
Take your time-there is a way to deceive the eye with flooring in irregular rooms, and that’s half the task of making things look good. 